Re- capensis importations. An accidental importation of capensis was mentioned:- this is very possible, after all Acarapis, Varroa and Athena tumida all managed to get in to the USA. It might not even be capensis at all, but offspring of some other African "race" either known to us or not. Many mountainous areas of Africa have populations of dark bees, the characteristics of which are not known. How do they manage to survive when surrounded by a sea of scutellata/ adansoni/littorea?
Re- pseudo-queens. Coumaphos causes big problems to developing queen cells and the resulting pseudo-queens are able to invade and take over normal colonies which may or may not die out. This problem was described and named "Intermediate Caste Syndrome" by us in the autumn 2001 Beekeepers Quarterly.
Roger White
Superbee Cyprus.