Blane White wrote:

> One of the interesting things about the spread of the africanized honey
> bees in the new world has been their seeming to displace other honey bees
> throughout the tropical areas.  The researchers continue to tell us that the
> bees even in the southern US are african with very little european genes mixed
> into the population except at the northern edge where hybridization is much
> more common.  It appears that they have displaced european honey bees instead
> of mixing with them.  Now this could be due to either t otal saturation by
> african drones due to very high feral populations or to some mechanism or
> mechanisms that prevent interbreeding at the population level.  Maybe both are
> going on.

We have the same thing happening here in New Zealand.  But with A.m Ligustica
and A.m. Melifera.  In some of our bush areas, populations of A.m.M revert to
type even after years of flooding the area with A.m.L.  Hybridisation does
occur and turns up as a slightly darker yellow bee with a very vindictive
side to its nature.  Take away the pressure of managed Ligustica colonies and
black A.m.m. is the result.  One factor may be the drones of A.m.m are
rumoured to fly at lower light and lower temperature.  Whatever the mechnism,
those managed hives that swarm in this area invariably throw darker, more
agressive offspring. The eventual dominance of the A.m.m genes in this
environment is not proof of a separate species.

The definition of "not being able to maintain a viable population from the
offspring of a cross between separate races" does not appear to be a
repeatable test criterion.

Regards,
Peter Bray
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