At 13:37 +0800 3/3/99, Joel F. Magsaysay wrote:
[snip]
 
>Apis florea [snip] subsists on sporadic forest
>blooms through migration.
 
[snip]
>Apis cerana [snip] are prone
>to absconding and exhaust their energy on reproduction rather than
>production of honey.
 
[snip]
 
>A. dorsata also
>migrates following the local bloom patterns: from mangroves to cultivated
>orchards to deep in the rainforests.
 
Thanks for your interesting information on the local Filipino honey bee
species. In your previous post you had caught my attention with your
statement, and this is from my memory so I may have it a bit wrong, to the
effect that some of the local species resist varoa by their grooming
habits. I can't help but wonder that they may resist varoa by their
frequent absconding and migration. Have studies been made to ascertain that
grooming is the mechanism, as opposed to leaving most of the mites behind
with the unhatched larvae when the bees abscond or migrate?
 
Respectfully,
Paul