> Africanization - of honeybees has reduced their ability to withstand the cold.
has probably been saving a lot of North American bees (certainly in the wild).
Am. scutellata behavioral differences are vastly more beneficial than a typical European honeybee when it comes to survival everywhere in the Americas except the north. These bees forage sooner, store more pollen, build smaller colonies, swarm more frequently, and more strongly defend themselves against Varroa. In other words, they are survivors against still the number one threat to managed honeybees.