Aaron, Barry, and others,

It was rather interesting to see (in "The Monk and the Honeybee") Br. Adam
tromp around the world investigating numerous little pockets of bees that
developed in isolation to see if he could include any of their traits into
his "super bee". I thought then that local adaptation is a very good thing.
Without the diversity I would guess that any species is headed for
catastrophe.

In that context, even if SMR queens prove to supress 100% Varroa d./j.
reproduction does this still mean that they are good all-around bees? That
is, do they incorporate traits for tracheal mite resistance, low swarming,
hygienic behaviour, etc., etc.? I was also wondering if the selective
breeding for Varroa resistance may actually leave the SMR bee wide open to
some other susceptibility. So, if we were all to jump on the SMR bandwagon
could that be similar to putting all our eggs in one basket? I don't know,
I'm just asking.

Stephen Augustine
Bees By The Bay