Apis mellifera and other Apis species

The European honey bee, also known as the honey fly (Apis mellifera), is a domesticated honey bee species native to Europe. It is considered semi-domesticated. It is one of the bee species bred on a large scale for honey production.

Description

Apis mellifera comprises nearly 25 subspecies divided into five major groups (according to their evolution and geographic distribution): group A ("Africa"), C ("Carnica", a subspecies in Eastern Europe and south of the Alps), M ("Mellifera", a subspecies of Western and Northern Europe), O ("Orientale", a subspecies of the Middle East and Central Asia) and Y ("Yemenitica", from Yemen) 1.

The queen measures 15 to 20 millimetres in length and the workers between 11 and 13 millimetres. However, some subspecies from warmer climates in Africa are smaller. The queen can easily be recognised by her size and enlarged abdomen.

The basic colour of the Western honey bee is brown, with the first abdominal segments yellow, orange to red. The hairy thorax is yellowish-brown. Contrary to a popular belief, the bee’s abdomen is not coloured black and yellow. The coloured illustrations in children’s books, for example, actually correspond to the wasp’s yellow-and-black abdominal colouring.

The legs of bees are structured like those of other insects. The hind legs of workers are used to collect pollen. The lower part of the legs is covered with long hairs forming a kind of pollen “basket”.

The bee, in addition to mandibles, has a suction tube. (www.wikipedia.com)

History

The first ancestors of Apis mellifera originated in Africa, from where they swarmed twice: a first wave of migration westward into Europe, a second (or several) eastward into Asia and Eastern Europe (E. Pennisi, « GENETICS : Honey Bee Genome Illuminates Insect Evolution and Social Behavior », Science, vol. 314, no 5799,‎ 27 octobre 2006, p. 578-579).

Over the course of history, the bee has evolved thanks to high genetic diversity. The queen of this species mates during the nuptial flight with one or two dozen drones (the phenomenon of polyandry), then lays unfertilised eggs that produce males, and fertilised eggs that produce workers who form one or two dozen groups of half-sisters. In addition, there are twenty times more genetic recombinations during the formation of eggs in this species than in those of women (G. J. Hunt and R. E. Page-Jr, « Linkage Map of the Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera, based on Rapd Markers », Genetics, vol. 139, no 3,‎ mars 1995, p. 1371–1382).

This diversity gives colonies of this bee an adaptive advantage: the emergence of more efficient cooperative processes and greater productivity (Mattila HR, Seeley TD, « Genetic diversity in honey bee colonies enhances productivity and fitness », Science, vol. 217, no 3,‎ mars 2007, p. 362–364).

In 2006, the international consortium Honey Bee Genome Sequencing Consortium (en) published the first complete sequencing of the Apis mellifera genome, making this bee the fourth insect to be sequenced after the fruit fly in 2000, the anopheles in 2002 and the silkworm in 2004 (George M. Weinstock, Gene E. Robinson et col, « Insights into social insects from the genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera », Nature, vol. 443, no 7114,‎ 26 octobre 2006, p. 931–949).

Some subspecies of Apis mellifera
Apis mellifera adansonii Bee from West African tropical regions. This is a little-known bee, and it is assumed that it mainly occupies West Africa from the southern Sahel to the Kalahari. http://www.apiservices.com/abeille-de-france/articles/cameroun.htm Or: http://sserra76.free.fr/abeille.htm
Apis mellifera adami Distribution range : the island of Crete. It seems that there is no longer any pure-bred adami bee.
Apis mellifera anatoliaca Distribution range : Turkey
Apis mellifera artemisia Distribution range : steppes of central Russia
Apis mellifera capensis Cape bee. This is a very dark-coloured bee. It has a very short tongue. Its particularity lies in the fact that it is capable of rearing parthenogenetic queens in the event of queenlessness, as well as the worker and male castes! Laying workers, which have a developed spermatheca, cannot be fertilised and produce effective queen pheromones for colony cohesion. It is found at the Cape of Good Hope. http://www.apiservices.com/articles/fr/abeilles_du_cap.htm
Apis mellifera carnica Carniolan bee. This is a dark, greyish bee with a rather long tongue and a high cubital index. It is reputed for its extreme gentleness. It originates from Carniola, hence its name, but also covers the entire Balkans, which leads to the emergence of many local forms. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_carnica Or: http://www.beekeeping.com/anercea/carnica.htm
Apis mellifera caucasica Grey mountain bee. This is a large bee, dark in colour, with a long tongue and a low cubital index. It is very gentle, not very prone to swarming, and very productive. It is found in the Caucasus, but is also used worldwide, either pure or for cross-breeding. http://www.apiservices.com/anercea/caucasica.htm Or: http://www.bee-evolution.com/fiches-techniques/…
Apis mellifera cecropia Distribution range : Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea.
Apis mellifera cypria Cypriot bee. This is a small, yellow-coloured bee with a long tongue and a high cubital index. It is very aggressive. It is found on the island of Cyprus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_cypria (EN)
Apis mellifera iberiensis Distribution range : Iberian Peninsula. There are two ecotypes whose mitochondrial characteristics are distinct.
Apis mellifera intermissa The Tellian bee is dark-coloured, large, and has a high cubital index. It is very aggressive and very prone to swarming. It is found in North Africa, from the Atlantic to Libya, and south as far as the Atlas mountain range. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_intermissa Or: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGroztOcfn8
Apis mellifera jemenitica Yemen bee. This is a little-known bee, formerly called nubica and first described in 1975 by F. RUTTNER; it appears to be related to Apis mellifica littorea. Known since 2000 BC, it withstands high temperatures and drought well. Distribution range : the Sahelian regions, from Senegal to Arabia https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_jemenitica
Apis mellifera lamarckii Egyptian bee. It used to be called Apis mellifica fasciata. This is a very dark yellow bee, with a short tongue and a high cubital index. It is found mainly along the Nile Valley.
Apis mellifera ligustica Italian bee. This is a large, yellow bee with a long tongue and a high cubital index. It is fairly gentle, develops large populations, and is not very prone to swarming. It is found mainly in Italy, but also worldwide through the trade of breeders. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_ligustica
Apis mellifera litorea This is a small bee, yellowish in colour, with a very long tongue. It is reputed for its extreme aggressiveness. Distribution range : along the east coast of tropical Africa, from Kenya to Mozambique.
Apis mellifera macedonica The Macedonian bee is found in an area delimited by Romania, the east of Yugoslavia, and the north of Greece.
Apis mellifera meda The Middle Eastern bee is found mainly in Iran, Iraq, Syria and southern Turkey
Apis mellifera major Moroccan bee. This one was described and discovered in 1975 in the Rif mountains in Morocco.
Apis mellifera mellifera This is the common black bee throughout Europe. It is dark-coloured, has a short tongue and a low cubital index. It adapts very well to the different nectar flows. It is found from Spain to Russia; it covers all of Western and Northern Europe. Its geographical range leads to the emergence of many local forms. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_mellifera
Apis mellifera monticola Bee of the mountains of Black Africa. This is a dark-coloured bee, large in size, and reputed for its gentleness. It is found in the mountains of Tanzania and East Africa, between 2000 and 3000 m. It has the very interesting particularity of defending itself well against varroa. http://www.pedigreeapis.org/biblio/artcl/EOABJ91fr.html
Apis mellifera remipes Transcaucasian bee. This is a medium-sized bee, yellow in colour and with a high cubital index. It is reputed to be very prone to robbing. It is found in Iran, Turkey and Armenia.
Apis mellifera ruttneri It is found on the island of Malta
Apis mellifera sahariensis Saharan bee. This is a small, yellow bee with a high cubital index. It is a gentle bee. It is found in southern Morocco and part of Algeria. http://www.pedigreeapis.org/biblio/artcl/haccour61.html Or: http://www.bee-evolution.com/fiches-techniques/…
Apis mellifera scutellata Bee of East Africa. This is a small, yellow bee with a short tongue that can nest both in cavities and in the open air. It is very aggressive and very prone to swarming. It is found from southern Africa to the eastern half of the continent between 500 and 2400 m. This bee was introduced in the 1950s in Brazil. This is the Africanised or killer bee! https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_scutellata
Apis mellifera siciliana ou sicula Distribution range : Sicily
Apis mellifera simensis Distribution range : Ethiopian Highlands
Apis mellifera sossimai Distribution range : Ukraine (except Crimea), regions north of the Caucasus range.
Apis mellifera syriaca Syrian bee. This is a small, yellow bee with a short tongue and a medium cubital index. It is very aggressive. It is found in the Eastern Mediterranean, notably in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and south-eastern Anatolia. The Israelis replaced it with the Italian bee.
Apis mellifera taurica Crimean bee. It resembles Apis mellifica caucasica, being large in size, dark in colour, with a long tongue and a rather low cubital index. It is gentle and very productive. It is found in Crimea and on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_taurica (EN)
Apis mellifera unicolor Madagascar bee. This is a uniformly black bee, very small but with a very large cubital index and a strongly pronounced gentle temperament. It is found in Madagascar and on Réunion. http://www.olivieresnault.com/labeille-pei-apis-mellifera-…/
Apis Buckfast Obtained by crossing the bee subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera ligustica, it was created in the abbey of the same name (in Buckfastleigh, Devon) by the monk in charge of the apiary, Brother Adam (Karl Kehrle, 1898-1996).
Bees of the genus Apis around the world
Apis andreniformis Is a honey bee species indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia
Apis cerana Indian bee. It is found throughout Asia. It is a small bee developing in small populations. Asians, and especially the Chinese, replaced it with the Italian bee and have since become one of the world’s leading exporters of honey. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_cerana
Apis dorsata Giant Indian bee. It is found up to 2000 metres above sea level in south-west Asia and the Philippines. It is a very large bee, close in size to the hornet. It nests in the open air on a single comb. It is reputed for its extreme aggressiveness but is nonetheless exploited in India where its honey and wax are harvested. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_dorsata
Apis ﬂorea It is found in Asia on lowlands at less than 500 m altitude. It is a small bee that nests in the open air on small combs. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_florea
Apis koschevnikovi Is a honey bee species indigenous to Malaysia and Borneo. Günther Enderlein, who first identified this species, named it in honour of the entomologist Grigory Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov, a pioneer in honey bee morphology.
Apis nigrocincta Is a honey bee species indigenous to certain islands of the Philippines and Indonesia. It is very close to the species Apis cerana.