http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection

A good read on natural selection and evolution. We are not evolving a 
new bee on small cell. We are not even naturally selecting.  Nature 
naturally selects. We are breeders. Think Bob and his bonsai trees. You 
can make just about anything small by confinement.

We are starting with a bee that has been around for millions of years, 
long before man. It has not changed much nor has it evolved into 
something new. Bees are bees and there are races of bees just as there 
are races of mankind. But the basic person or bee has the same genetic 
makeup with variations in how the genes are expressed. When you select 
for a trait you are selecting from something that already exists, so you 
are not creating something new. Can a tropical bee survive in cold? 
Remember that we have gone through many ice ages over the million year 
span of the bee, so it was not always tropical. It has demonstrated that 
it can survive in a variety of climates. The genes are there.

As far as stinging, that is only degree and has nothing to do with a new 
or different bee. I have had Italians that would give AHB a run for 
their money. The beekeepers in Mexico and the Southwest US are breeding 
AHB for gentleness, just the opposite of its supposed survival trait.

It is the same basic bee.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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