Donald Campbell wrote:

> I read the article, like Dick Allen referred to, in July's Bee Culture.  I
> believe the feral bees have developed the survival trait, like their African
> cousins, of frequent and easily triggered absconding.

You are not alone in that thought. I started to post exactly the same
thing. What caused me to not do so was the difference in size and that
the larger "swarms" did swarm again and not abscond.

There is nothing unusual in "selecting" for absconding since it is a
trait of AM as well as AHB and for the same reasons. So I would not rule
it out, but, equally, it may have nothing to due with what is observed.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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