On 10/14/2016 6:06 PM, Peter Loring Borst wrote:

> Hmm. How is the British bee distinct from, say, the bees of France or Holland?
>
> PLB
>
>
Native bees on the British Isles are considered to be the same 
sub-species as the ones of Northern Europe but National Bee Unit 
apparently have genetic data that discriminates between the various 
ecotypes.  I would expect each ecotype to be better adapted to its own 
region than any other and in my area the regions can be as small as 20 
miles across.  This sort of effect is probably more evident at the 
extremes of the honey bee's natural range.  Hence British /apis 
mellifera mellifera/ are genetically distinguishable from those of other 
countries.  Buckfasts, for example, when introduced here just wither and 
die.  Unfortunately they last long enough to release drones which can 
weaken the local stocks and often produce aggressive behaviour in them.  
I have tried Irish /amm /myself and whilst they are excellent in their 
own region they seem to find it difficult to cope with our local late 
springs.

There is quite a lot of genetic data to be found here:

http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5211/

Pages 123 to 126 are particularly interesting and the key to the charts 
can be found on page 69.

The author's findings on the validity of wing morphology seems to be 
slightly at odds with some other studies but Bangor University plan to 
investigate this more deeply.

I think it's clear that Peter Edward's claim that Brother Adam lied 
about the extinction of the native bee is quite true.  I think we can 
use the word "lie" rather than "mistaken" because he chose to ignore all 
the evidence put before him that he was wrong. Unfortunately for the 
native bee, the beekeeping establishment at the time seemed to choose to 
believe him.

Steve Rose
North Wales


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