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Subject:
From:
Bob & Liz <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 29 Jan 2002 19:19:36 -0600
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Hello Robert and All,
 If this hypothesis is correct, then they should be as easy to distinguish morphometrically as A.m. mellifera and A. m.  ligustica.
If you read the following sentence  from pg. 36 of the Hive and the Honey Bee (19920 you will see the one race which is the hardest to separate by wing venation is capensis.
"DuPraw(1965), according to Ruttner (1975) was UNABLE to delimt Apis mellifera adansonii Latreille (1804) from Apis mellifera capensis Eschholtz (1822) on the bases  of wing characters.
According to Paul Jackson (Texas state bee inspector) most Texas Africanized bee ID was done by wing venation. I believe we should have used other means to find those bees with capensis instead of scut genes. As Blane pointed out the classification was either European or Africanized and not Scutellata or capensis.  I believe capensis has slipped through the inspection net and  most of the AHB in Arizona have got a large portion of capensis genes( only my opinion based on the description  of these bees and their traits).
Although Eva Crane previously quoted said only one capensis queen was    established  all stories coming from Dr. Kerr during the time are different. I have read all news reports  published at the time and exact numbers were never given. IN FACT ALL THE REPORTS PUBLISHED SAID ONLY THAT ADANSONII QUEENS WERE RELEASED. All bees of SA were called adansonii at the time.
What we have been told for years was that more strains than scutellata and capensis were brought in and established. We have also been told that no signs of the cape bee (capensis) have ever been seen by researchers monitoring the 300 mile per year march from Brazil. so the capensis queens supposedly did not survive.  If you refer back do Barry Seargeant's post on Scut and capensis you will see these two strains are nothing alike. In looks or behavior (Scut *Yellow* and capensis *black*)BUT I believe it would take DNA to separate the scut influence from the capensis influence now.
IS CAPENSIS THE REAL SURVIVOR and the black AHB  bee .of Arizona?
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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