Hi Allen Before giving worker cell sizes for AM scutellata in this country, a quick note on hybridisation. Over the past decade or so, scutellata have hybridised with AM capensis, following man-made migrations of capensis deep into scutellata territory. A pure capensis bee is somewhat larger than a pure scutellata. Today, the net result is a wide variance in worker cell sizes produced by "natural" or "wild" scutellata. These range from about 4.3mm to 4.7mm per cell (according to the methodology on the website you referred to). It would be foolhardy to give a mean value, due to the variance in hybridisation. But it is another reason to furnish trap hives with minimal (25mm) strip foundation. This means the bees can sort the cell size out according to their degree of hybridisation. As to varroa, our observations to date are that the natural swarms exhibiting highest resistance are those with "advanced" hygienic (grooming) behaviour. As you know, the commencement of capensis worker laying behaviour in a scutellata hive leads to a near-term collapse in colony hygiene. Thus we are very worried that the dual influence of varroa and capensis could lead to a deep depletion in wild swarms. Barry Sergeant Kyalami South Africa