> The bees paid for a new 52-foot sailboat and later, a newer-model 59-footer, the purchase and restoration of a 1950s Beechcraft Bonanza

>> Which is proof of what, exactly? I thought we were talking science here. 

It proves that even one of my limited perception and intelligence can, WITH THE RIGHT BEE, make the kind of money to buy toys that make all the heavy lifting worthwhile. 

Thus, there's far more than "mere color" going on here with these bees.

There are examples in nature that create just as much confusion as beekeepers and their breeding efforts: taxonomists are inconsistent and fickle creatures, and are bad at calling balls and strikes. For example Eudyptula minor, the "Little Blue Penguin" was considered a single species until recent years, when Eudyptula novaehollandiae was christened as a separate species found mostly in Australia, but with a small group on NZ's south island, leaving Eudyptula minor as the primary NZ species.   The physically different "White-Flippered Little (Blue) Penguins" do not get their own species, they are merely a "Clade", found in the Banks Peninsula area, near Christchurch NZ.

As far as anyone can tell, there is not one iota of different behavior among any of the Little Blue Penguins, so the taxonomists have created a distinction without a difference.

Bees suffer from the opposite taxonomic treatment - stark differences without formal distinction.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html