Superseding strains vs swarmy strains.

[rolande]

For a breeder of French originating Amm... are you supprised?

Well, I don't know anything about that but if it's a fact you're welcome to present the proof -out of purely academic interest although personally I can't see a practical benefit to such information

Edit: wrote this post without realising that @Nige.Coll had addressed the question

 

[Curly green finger's]

BIBBA have produced a few good books. A few of the translations from German publications are definitely worth reading. The Tiesler & Englert book you mentioned is a classic. I have the 2015 German edition "Aufzucht und Verwendung von Königinnen" which accompanies the IWF queen rearing videos - everything you could ever want to know about queen rearing is in there! Obviously, Eva Englert is dead now but FK Tiesler is still the German breeding co-ordinator. He is still quite active in Beebreed.

Thanks for sharing the links Paul.

 

[Apple]

Well, I don't know anything about that but if it's a fact you're welcome to present the proof -out of purely academic interest although personally I can't see a practical benefit to such information

Edit: wrote this post without realising that @Nige.Coll had addressed the question

All goes to show that the Amm population of the British Isles is an admixture of Amm from Europe, probably from areas where the bees had already evolved immunity to the virus prior to the 1920s.
Possibly importation of stocks of these bees transferred to the susceptible British Isles bees ( which would have at that time been mostly Native Amm) caused the disease blamed on Acarine?

The microsatelite grouping to denote the evolutionary back history of the various groupings samples showed reserved populations of bees, different to each other, here in Cornwall, Collonsay, Isle of Man and Northumberland.
Other areas sampled seemed to show a definitive link where possible introgression with other Amm populations occurred... ie the Ulster bees were more similar to the Dutch and French Amm that the ones from Wales or the Midlands.
Prior to DNA analyses all the entomologists had to utilise was wing morphometry and other phylogenic factors such as hair colour and length ... proboscis length etc.... good enough to distinguish between sub species but not for groups within them.

SO... yes the NI bees may be Amm but not as we know them!

Here ends the sermon for this Sunday
AMEN

Chons da

 

[Apiarist]

...and another group of bees that show distinct “Irish” microsatellite alleles and mitochondrial haplotypes.

I'm familiar with all the published genetic research into bees here in Ireland... I think you're paraphrasing from Jack Hassets research published in 2018?

You are aware that Prof. McCormack, in a recent BIBBA webinar, mentioned in passing that all the bees sampled to date were descended from imported European queens (she was referencing J. Hassets research, she over-saw it and was co-author), or are you referring to other research? I know some research is in the process of being published?

 

[Nige.Coll]

I'm familiar with all the published genetic research into bees here in Ireland... I think you're paraphrasing from Jack Hassets research published in 2018?

You are aware that Prof. McCormack, in a recent BIBBA webinar, mentioned in passing that all the bees sampled to date were descended from imported European queens (she was referencing J. Hassets research, she over-saw it and was co-author), or are you referring to other research? I know some research is in the process of being published?

It is the Hasset research that was the most current I have seen.
That does show pockets of Irish AMM still exist though. Numbers unknown.
When the new research is published I'll have a look at that too, I like to keep up to date.

 

[Apiarist]

"...(Hasset) does show pockets of Irish AMM still exist though."

I re-checked that paper and it does not show where these "pockets of Irish AMM" are, do you know where? Or do you mean thay are "Irish" because these AMM have now been living here for a hundred years?

Keith Brown recently published a paper in 2020, testing the DNA of 178 (from memory) "free living" (meaning feral) hives, they all came back as Dutch bees, the most common type found in Hasset's paper, and the type kept by NIHBS members (according to the DNA analysis).

I don't know where else one can look; however Prof. McCormack is still hopeful that they will find Irish DNA in the AMM in Ireland (based on what she said in BIBBA's webinar).

 

[Nige.Coll]

I re-checked that paper and it does not show where these "pockets of Irish AMM" are, do you know where? Or do you mean thay are "Irish" because these AMM have now been living here for a hundred years?

Keith Brown recently published a paper in 2020, testing the DNA of 178 (from memory) "free living" (meaning feral) hives, they all came back as Dutch bees, the most common type found in Hasset's paper, and the type kept by NIHBS members (according to the DNA analysis).

I don't know where else one can look; however Prof. McCormack is still hopeful that they will find Irish DNA in the AMM in Ireland (based on what she said in BIBBA's webinar).

The results showed separate genetics for some of the bees, it wasn't a lot but if you look at the diagrams the Irish are shown as green and the rest blue.
I can't believe I'm in the corner for AMM, lousy bloody things. I am always honest lol.
It did conclude with more research needed, hence the paper someone shared tonight from 2020. That showed 50% of the wild bees had some unique genetics thought to be only in the Irish variant.
Most are from the Dutch imports but there are a small amount of the survivors from IOW disease looking at the DNA results.
They don't care where they come from, only obsessed with the fact they are mostly pure amm, they spend too much time at each others throats to organise anything to do something about it.