Hi,
I have been away in wonderful Ireland (my first ever visit, and
enjoyed the wealth of lepidoptera and apoidea life, including the
local A.m. mellifera in the rolling Cork countryside as well as the
Guinness), and so unsubscribed from the list. Guess i should
resubscribe now. However, was the following addressed by anybody
during the past few weeks (Garth, you continuing to enlighten us all
about A. m. capensis?) or do i still need to clarify the below?

 Would it be possible to explain this fascinating subject in
more everyday terms?. I must say that I do not understand the
paragraph beginning as follows:
>
> >"Colonies" potentially have the
> >advantages of both thelytoky (rapid clonal expansion of currently
> >advantageous gene combinations without having to be reliant on other
> >males, or production of males rather then females, so queens and
> >their associated reproductively active (clonal) daughter workers can
> >rapidly reproduce compared to "sexual" species{all other things not
> >being limited]; whilst maintaining the advantages of sexual
> >reproduction (recombination, gene flow) to allow new genotype
> >combinations and thus a buffer against changing environment .....

Cheers
Rob
Robert Butcher,
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology Unit,
Department of Biological Sciences,
Dundee University,
Dundee, DD1 4HN,
Tayside, Scotland,
UK.
Work Phone:- 01382-344291 (Office), 01382-344756 (Lab).
Fax:- 01382-344864
e-mail:- [log in to unmask]