AN IMPORTATION OF POTENTIALLY VARROA-RESISTANT HONEY-BEES FROM FAR-EASTERN RUSSIA

In an earlier report (ABJ 135: 11, 746-748) we described the initiatio n of a project to evaluate the potential for resistance to Varroa jaco bsoni by honey bees from the Primorsky Territory on Russia's Pacific c oast, Apis mellifera is not native to the area, but was first moved th ere in the last century, At that time, pioneers from western Russia to ok advantage of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway and moved honey bees from European western Russia to Primorsky Territory in Asi an far-eastern Russia. This far-eastern area of Russia is within the n atural range of Apis cerana, the original host of V. jacobsoni, Thus, A. mellifera was brought into the likely range of V. jacobsoni even be fore the parasite was scientifically described in 1904. This probable long association of V. jacobsoni and A. mellifera in the region has en gendered one of the best opportunities in the world for A. mellifera t o develop genetic resistance to V. jacobsoni.