Tecumseh is only the second beekeeper I've heard mention the three banded Italian bees. There is an old, like in 90 years of age, fellow in my home town that told me 20 years ago when he quit beekeeping all the feral bees here were three banded Italian bees. He said they were left over from peach pollinators that the old timers used. He also related that the three banded bees were sometimes very black. He thought they arrived in our area during the 1960's when our area was a huge peach producer. According to him they were very good producers.
As an add-on, this old fellow has all his marbles and is a very smart self taught individual. He didn't finish high school, but he taught himself trigonometry so that he could survey land.