32
 drones. Given that the fragment patterns of these Ddel variants were

 consistent with other patterns detected in the USA, these three variants were

 assumed to indicate European ancestry. Neotropical drones in which the Mspl-

 1.8kb fragment was detected were concluded to be of European ancestry on

 the basis of the Ddel variants (Table 2).


 Greater diversity at locus 178 in tropical vs. temperate bees.

 USA bees demonstrated the least variability, having the smallest number

of variants and alleles found, of the four populations analyzed. The greatest

diversity at locus 178 was found in the South African drones: twice as many

Mspl and Ddel variants comprising twice as many alleles were found in half as

many colonies, compared to the USA.

 The neotropical samples were also more varied than the USA samples

and were collected from fewer colonies. The Honduran samples came from

colonies established from feral swarms several years after African bees had

arrived. The detection of both European and African variants and alleles was

expected. However, there was little indication of European ancestry in the

Honduran bees; the majority of alleles common to the USA and Honduras

contained the Mspl variant M301, and only two other alleles contained

USA/European-type variants (Table 2, distribution 3). More variants were

common to Honduran and South African drones. Like the South African

drones, the majority of the Mspl variants in the Honduran drones belonged to

the M400 and M500 group, and most of the Ddel variants detected were in the