There are almost 20,000 species of bees in the world which have been identified to date. Bees are close relatives of ants, wasp and hornets. One genus under which all honey bees fall, Apis, contains all the known species of honey bee forming at least 44 sub species. Bees in this genus are all characterised by their abilities to produce and store honey and build comb from wax. It is these properties that mankind has learned to use by learning to harvest honey from wild colonies or managing colonies in hives.
Many of the sub species described to date have one or more other variants. Geographical isolation and breeding of favoured local bees by beekeepers has led to numerous versions of the better described sub species. Given the vast number of sub species (and it may be possible to describe many more than 44), we will only look at the main species and the better known subspecies we see in modern beekeeping and some of the more interesting species from which mankind has learned to harvest from to his advantage.
Apis mellifera (the “European” or “Western” honey bee)
Apis mellifera is the most wide spread species of honey bee in the world. It is the main species which has truly been “domesticated” by humans, largely due to its habit of building its nests within cavities (e.g. amongst rocks or within hollows in trees). It is due to this habit that A. mellifera lends itself to being “kept” in hives. A. mellifera has been cultivated by humans for at least 5000 years.
The species is characterised by colonies numbering 10s of thousands that form multiple combs per colony and build their colonies within cavities. The colonies can survive in a very wide range of climates (most climates occupied by humans) and can use a very wide range of food sources. Colonies can live through winters in cool temperate zones (albeit only numbering between 10 to 20% of their summer numbers) by laying down considerable stores of honey gathered through the summer months. It is these characteristics that have led humans to favour A. Mellifera.
Due to the wide geographical spread of A. mellifera, a number of sub-
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Apis cerana (the “Asiatic” or “Eastern” or “Himalayan” honey bee)
Apis cerana is found in a vast range from northern India, across southeast Asia to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. Like A. mellifera, cerana is a cavity nesting bee making it suitable for housing in a hive. The species is kept extensively by farmers across this vast region although due to having a smaller colony size than the Western honey bee (A. mellifera) its honey yields are quite small. This has led to wide scale importation of the Western bee which in turn has led to bee diseases of A. cerana crossing over to A. mellifera -
A. cerana is characterised by a smaller (around ¾ the length of A mellifera), narrower body than that of the Western bee and has quite marked yellow bands between the abdominal segments. It is renowned for adapting to seasonal changes (in temperature and flora) rapidly. The species is found in habitats ranging from low land forest and scrub to high mountain passes in the Himalayas. In fact it is reported that A. cerana can survive short spells at freezing point -
The Asiatic bee has co-
Many will have seen the Asiatic honey bee on video clips from the National Geographic channel. The Asiatic bee faces a number of fearsome predators in the Asian hornet, the largest of which is the Japanese giant hornet. The latter being 5 times larger than the honey bee can destroy entire honey bee colonies numbering 30,000 bees within 2 to 3 hours. Once a scout hornet finds a bee colony, other hornets are led to the colony and proceed to attack the bees until all are dead, leaving the hornets free to gorge themselves on the honey and take the bee larvae back their nest to feed to their own young. The Asiatic honey bee has learned to adapt to this onslaught. The bees are unable to take on such a large predator one-
Apis dorsata (the “giant” honey bee)
The giant honey bee is found in locations across southern and south east Asia. It is typically found in densely forested areas and nests beneath large branches and under rocky over-
The giant honey bees are -
Due to the giant honey bee not building its combs in enclosed cavities (like A. mellifera), it has never been domesticated.
Apis florea (the “red dwarf” honey bee) and Apis andreniformis (the “black dwarf” honey bee)
Existing as two species (A. florea -
The dwarf bee -
Apis nigrocincta
Closely related to A. cerana, A. nigrocincta has become slightly distinct from its more widespread neighbour due to its isolation on a handful of islands in Indonesia and the Philippines.