> there would be no great reason for them to haul bees onto the ocean.
> Certainly the 15th century junk found in Australia  supports his theories
> as do the Chinese genetics along the west coast of Africa.

If they did carry bees with them would they have not been Apis cerana?
There are no Apis species native to Australia, nor surviving in Australia
before 1822, so they certainly did not carry them to Australia.  If they
carried them to Africa, one could safely surmise that they would have
carried varroa with the Apis cerana so Africa should have had varroa
occurring in its bee populations long before now.

Doesn't mean to say that the Chinese didn't discover these places, just that
it is highly unlikely that they would have carried bees with them.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA
Coming to Apimondia in Australia in 2007?

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