Hi Chris & all

> > There are some indications that virgins are selective to a degree in the
> > males that they actually mate with and that this selectivity increases
with
> > the amount of racial difference.
> >
>  Can you point to references for this statement?


The phenomena is not referenced as a separate subject, but is discussed in a
number of papers about polyandry and the evolution of polyandry. (Search for
these and 'mating preferences'). There was a great deal of discussion about
this around 25 years ago, Beowulf Cooper and John Inchley were among those
in the discussions. I remember that there was a distinct advantage of AMM
over Ligustica, with some suggestion that an AMM queen could use her sting
to burst a pumped up Italian drone that was in pursuit.

**
Testing genetic variance hypotheses for the evolution of polyandry in the
honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)
P. Neumann , R.F.A. Moritz

Evolutionary aspects of the multiple mating phenomenon in honeybees are
addressed. For instance the relationship between the number of matings of
honeybee queens and their colony performance (Neumann & Moritz 2000,
Insectes soc) or the behavioural mating tactics of honeybee queens are
studied (Schlüns et al 2002, in review).
**

There is mention of this selective mating in some work about Africanised
bees, with the thrust being that Scutellata can preferentially mate with
like drones. but I cannot find the specific paper in the sea of documents on
the subject.

I believe that Ben Oldroyd and perhaps Kellie palmer are interested in this,
if not working on it directly.


Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

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