Hi Bob Harrison: Some remarks made by Mark Winston in his book Biology of the Honey Bee (pages 127-128). I imagine you’ve seen them but others on the list might be interested. The book was copyrighted 1987. “One of the least-understood aspects of honey bee biology is the absence of a high frequency of diploid egg production by workers among all races except for A.m. capensis. Production of female brood by workers should be highly favored by selection, since it would ensure colony survival following queen loss, yet this trait is common only in capensis. Female egg laying by workers has not spread from the Cape bee to adjacent populations of A. m. scutellata, although extensive hybridization between the two races appears to be occurring (Moritz and Kauhausen, 1984). It has been suggested that the aggressive scutellata workers may kill hybrids which have laying worker characteristics, since these workers appear more queenlike than regular workers; this might explain the failure of parthenogenetic worker production to spread beyond the Cape bee (Fletcher, personal communication). After examining worker characteristics in hybrid zones where capensis and scutellata overlap, Moritiz and Kauhausen (1984) have concluded that capensis is in danger of extinction as a result of extensive hybridization with scutellata and pressure from commercial beekeeping. Loss of this unique race of bees would indeed by tragic, partly because of its potential importance as a genetic reserve of unique traits, and partly because we still do not understand why its characteristics have remained isolated at the tip of South Africa.” Things have changed some since then, haven’t they? Regards, Dick