Re: bees and mites

Rand Nicholson (writserv@mi.net)
Sat, 27 Jul 1996 11:52:34 -0400

>as a hymenopterist I for one would not cry a drop for the honeybee. this
>beast has pretty thoroughly depleted our native bee populations by being far
>aggressive at the pollen and nectar sources. the native bees would be just as
>capable of the pollenation of most crop if given a chance and would also be
>less affected by such things as mites and such
>GCS

Ah, yes. But the native bees in North America are not (were not) as
productive at producing honey, thus they were not _worth_ as much glorious
buck-wise. The native populations of bees (including the much maligned
Bumble Bee which, thankfully, are pollinating the Scarlet Runners in my
garden as I write) are also affected by these scurious mites.

In Canada, we have a native honeybee which, unfortunatly, could not compete
with the introduced moneyBees. Their honey is still collected by natives,
woodsmen and bears, but it is hard to come by and considred "inferior" by
commercial beekeepers because of the uncontrolled (unsupervised by man)
conditions in which they collect their nectar and pollen. These creatures
are also succeptible to mites.

Rand