The European (Western) honey bee, Apis mellifera, belongs to the hymenoptera order that includes ants, bees, wasps and it is the Apidae family of bees that make nests and store pollen and nectar to feed their developing larvae. Honeybees belong to the genus ‘Apis’ which in Latin means bee. Mellifera translates into honey gather.
There are approximately 24 different sub-species or race of the honeybee worldwide. These races are somewhat isolated geographically and are the result of natural selection in their homeland rather than breeding by beekeepers. All races have the potential to inter-breed, or form hybrids if they are in the same area.
There are four major races of honeybee that are of economic importance. These races are naturally distributed through Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Apis mellifera is not native to Asia, America or Australia. The first European bee that was introduced onto the Hawaiian Islands was around the 1850′s and was the a) Dark European Honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera (Linaeus)). Identification of this sub-species is more easily determined because these dark bees are predominantly black on the abdomen and may have yellow spots on the second tergite; they have the largest body and longest abdominal overhairs of the European races and have the shortest tongue at 6.0 mm. Dark bees produce lower volumes of honey and are more aggressive than the other three sub-species of bee. Dark bees survive winter and times of forage scarcity well due to their ability to maintain heat within the cluster and they have greater resistance to Nosema protozoa and dysentery. Dark bees have a longer broodless period during colder temperatures and are slow to start producing brood in the spring; they consequently consume less honey stores in during the year than Italian bees.
b) Italian Honey bee (Apis mellifera lingustica (Spinola)). The Italian honeybee originated from Italy and is the most commonly used managed honeybee worldwide. They are smaller and lighter colored than the other honeybee races, with golden yellow bands on their abdomen and a long tongue 6.5 mm. Italian honeybees are generally gentle and are very good breeders, starting early in the spring and continuing through to the end of autumn. Italian bees are less inclined to swarm than most other sub-species but are more inclined to drift into hives other than their own. Italian bee colonies maintain high populations and are very good honey producers.
c) Carniolan Honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica (Pollmann)) Carniolan bees originated from Austria, former Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungry. They are grey to black in color and similar in size to the Italian bees. Carniolans are very docile; they over-winter in small colonies and consume low qualities of honey through colder times and so are better suited to a harsh climate. They start brood rearing very quickly in the spring when there are good pollen sources and also have a strong tendency to swarm. Carniolan bees are good honey producers and are not inclined to rob honey from other hives.
d) Caucasian Honey bee (Apis mellifera caucasica (Gorbachev)). Caucasian bees came originally from the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. They are similar to Carniolan bees in looks and are dark grey to black in color. They are docile bees, with the longest tongues of the four races which enable them to pollinate a wide range of flowers. Caucasian bees do not swarm and are greater users of propolis than other bees. Russian bees are successful at high elevation, they are good honey producers and do not drift into other hives. Although they may be susceptible to Nosema, they pass on a genetic trait called SMR – suppressed mite reproduction and have they highest level of hygienic behavior among all named subspecies. Future varroa mite resistance depends greatly on hybridizing with Russian bees.
The different races of the honey bee are distinguished by up to 40 morphological (external form) features but few of these features such as wing venation, and abdominal body hair and coloring can provide a relatively accurate indication of which of the four major races are present. The main morphological features used to measure race include: 1) Cubital index of wing venation 2) Discoidal shift in degrees of the forewing discoidal joint 3) Abdominal overhairs which can be measured by comparison of a 0.4 mm thick wire under a binocular microscope at 10x magnification 4) Measuring the Abdominal tomenta that cross the abdominal segments 5) Abdominal body color which means counting the gold or yellow rings at the distal end of the bee 5) Length of proboscis (tongue) using jewelers forceps viewed through a calibrated eyepiece at 14x magnification.
Considerable effort has been made by beekeepers worldwide to breed bees with desirable characteristics. Educating oneself to all aspects of apiculture is the key to any successful Queen bee breeding program and future sustainability. Applying this knowledge towards your own apiary is the next step.
News Report: Over the last year the world’s bee population has declined by one third. At this rate, bees may become extinct in ten years. A dissection of the bees showed the presence of unfamiliar fungus and bacteria. In addition, cell phone radiation disrupts the bees’ orientation so they cannot find their way back to the hive and die.
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