At 11:46 AM 7/24/98 +1200, you wrote: >Andy those pictures of the Afro beetle are such horrible sights. Hi Barry, Yes the pictures are nasty, but they are NO different and in fact they are identical except for the beetle's themselves to the pictures that could have been taken of the damage the Grater Wax Worms have been doing to weak and dead beehives that are not properly stored from California to Florida and points East for at least my lifetime. This same damage to weak and dead hives by wax worms includes both hived bees and feral colonies in the woods and rocks. It is a fact we did not want Afro-beetles but we have them today, also a fact. I am not trying in any way to minimize this so called new bee pest. I do expect that it will take several seasons of looking to assess how wide spread they are as I suspect they may have been here for years without notice by the beekeepers or bee regulators because the damage is not that much different then the wax worms and other pests that will take over a dead hive including the dramatic effects of honey running out the entrance and the fermentation which is not unusual if dead or weak hives are not protected in much of the West and Southern US. I would expect that these beetles will not live long in the North and North East the same as the grater wax worms don't but of course the number of hives wintered in the North has changed dramatically with the most of our bees on wheels today, but the supers in many operations do stay in the North which will tend to protect them because of the short bee season and long cool winters but not stop the spread of this pest from coast to coast as I believe it is, but if not the job will soon bee done. >I assume the authorities are searching for and destroying all attacked beehives, Well, this is not going to happen, (I hope), other then the initial search and identification as it would require the quarantine in place of all hives in any area the beetles are found and would be very destructive to the bee industry which is on wheels and is fuel driven and must have access to pasture by free and unregulated movement not to mention the pollination services bees provide to agriculture which would suffer unbelievable losses if bees were not available by a simple phone call to a beekeeper or his pollination pimp, sometimes a thousand miles for the fields or orchards needing the bees. And sometimes the day after they should have been in place to do a good job of pollination. >but here is an awful possibility - it seems to me that the life cycle of the beetle is such that it could >probably attack and breed in bumble bees nests. Well I missed the basis for that thought on other species of bees other then honeybee combs but anything is possible but would I think it would require some genetic bridging that others have not reported or I have not read to this time but for sure these beetles are pollen feeders as the wax worms and many other lesser hive pasts also are and most other species do not store enough pollen to keep very many Afro-beetles well fed and happy in their work. Some say they are also honey feeders, I don't know that as a fact but they for sure do the same damage as wax worms and will damage unprotected honey combs as well as any honey in the combs and the honey will run out of the combs also the same as with extreme wax worm damage, and yes I have seen this not only in weak hives but also in normal healthy hives in boxes made of plastic that the bees could not keep cool which favored the wax worms to the point they would eat the hives alive a most disgusting site to see. As for the future beekeepers can expect that others will be looking at their bees for these pests which is an insult to an industry like ours that has the expertise to do this job for ourselves and a waste of tax payers money including our own times two because we still have the responsibility of inspecting our own hives matters not how many times they are given a GI inspection. I am also sure some states as always will go off half cocked and may even pass new regulations on this bee pest. This to is about as dumb as a fence post as by this time all should know from past experiences you can not regulate bee pests or bee health and that bee health is the responsibility of the bee keeper and not that of the state. After all this pest was probhibited by US Law from entering the country but made it in spite of all laws and regulations. As to the reported number of generations the Afro-Beetle can rear in a season I would think that in the west and south we will see even more generations but I also believe that zone of damage may be close to that of the Grater Wax Worms and the control would be the same. If you do not protect your bee equipment in these areas, especially combs with pollen, they will be 100% destroyed in one season with no help from the Afro-beetles. It will be an interesting fall and winter and I am sure all will hear the cry that the "sky is falling" again and again, coast to coast, which is really the normal feeding cry of the bee regulators that require a new bee pest every two or three years to justify their bloated budgets which as before could again in time exceed that of the industry they want to regulate if left uncontroled. I am sure the National Honey Advertising Board will release a plan to kill these pest by throwing money at them and announce how much more important it is for all to vote to double the assessment on honey which in reality will only increase the pile and grade of the floor covering in their office's. I got to add this thought that is of special interest to me and that is the battle for the top of the food chain that the AFRO-Beetle is now waging with the Grater Wax Moth Worms. At this date the only thing that can top the wax moths is a good heavy population of mice but naturally in most bee barns that is not allowed to happen but in the woods or in abandoned equipment the mice is the winner. What will happen when the wax worms meet the Afro-beetle worms is going to be very important to the winner and as yet no one has reported on this. There is also a small no see em wasp that can do a job on wax worms and can feed up to big numbers if allowed that would be in this battle. Please don't send me any Afro-beetles I can wait to do my own observations with my own beetles and worms when they arrive by their own shanks mare. Just the opinion of one OLd Drone http://beenet.com (c)Permission is given to copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE AT OWN RISK!