Hi all
The problem with the notion of local subspecies is that all these bees are from somewhere else, so it becomes a question of "how long" does it take for an type to become "native"?

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The color of the Italians is in general much brighter, and the first three segments of the abdomen are golden yellow on their dorsal surfaces. Its qualities and its color have become fairly well fixed by artificial selection which there is every reason to believe has been practised in Italy for some two thousand years. 

Both Virgil and Columella evidently refer to it, the former (Georgics IV, 98) speaking of two kinds of bees, the better of which he describes as having shining bodies, variegated like drops of gold. The tendency to vary under domestication at the present time would indicate that the the race is a composite one.

Mr. Frank Benton [stated] that by crossing the Egyptian, the Palestine or the Syrian with the common brown German race, workers are produced in a few generations that can scarcely be distinguished from Italians ; a fact which as regards the Egyptians, was ascertained by the Berlin Acclimatization Society. 

He finds also, that the Syrian type leads, when crossed with the common brown race, most commonly to the Italian type, a fact which is significant when we remember that the Phoenicians—ancient inhabitants of Syria—established colonies in southern Italy at a very early date. — Riley

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There are three distinct varieties of the Italian bee: the leather coloured variety; the bright yellow kind, as usually supplied by the commercial breeders; and a very pale lemon coloured type, not often seen. The so-called Golden Italian is not a true Italian bee at all. It is an outcome of a cross between the Italian and a black race, as our cross-breeding experiments have clearly demonstrated. — Adam

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Some folks will point to the genotyping work done on the honey bee, which has led to the proliferation of many conflicting analyses. Further, some groups such as Native Americans, refuse to allow the use of genotyping for tribal affiliation. It's too vague and unreliable. 

Even further, it has been widely known for years that African bees cannot be reliably distinguished by either morphometric or genetic evaluations. I only bring these matters up because some folks seem so certain about their positions. 

Peter L Borst

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