AMM vicious, unproductive, swarm and very susceptible to chalk brood. They are survivors and there are a few left in the back blocks of New Zealand. Not because they are resistant to varroa but because they haven't contacted it yet . Their genes are incorporated in all New Zealand strains of bees (not Carneolan). Having spent most of my life trying to eradicate these bees from our hives we finally succeeded with the help of varroa. Unfortunately we now have to contend with hybrids from Carneolans . There is no comparison between our modern Italians and some of the strains from 40 years ago .