Types of Honey Bees - Apiculture in Arkansas

Around 20,000 species of bees have been described in the superfamily Apoidea. These all share a number of common traits that are unique to bees, and separate them from the rest of the Hymenoptera. While ants and wasps are carnivorous in at least some stage of their live cycle, bees are completely herbivorous, deriving all of their nutrition from the pollen and nectar of flowers (the exception to this is when, under stress, worker bees are known to kill and consume bee larvae, thus conserving the protein). The anatomy of the bee is superbly adapted for the collection of their food from flowers.

Multiple species of bees are kept around the world. In some tropical regions of Africa, Australia, and the Americas, native stingless bees are kept for honey production, and in Asia several species of Apis are utilized by people. But the western honey Bee, Apis mellifera, is the most common bee kept for honey and pollination around the world. Originating in Africa, the western honey bee spread across the entire continent and into Europe and the Middle East, occupying environmental niches. Over thousands of years in isolation, varieties of Apis mellifera adapted to specific regions and climates, and acquired recognizable differences in behavior, appearance, and disposition.

Numerous races of the honey bee are recognized, and have been kept by people in many cultures throughout history. Each of the races of has genetic traits that are potentially desirable for beekeeping, such as honey production or disease resistance, and they may possess other traits that are less desirable, such as susceptibility to disease, or a highly-defensive temperament. But all of these races of honey bees are sub-types of a single species, and are capable of successfully interbreeding, resulting in hybrids.

While honey hunting for wild bees' nests was probably common throughout the ancient world, the Egyptians were the first to attempt keeping bees in artificial hives. Barges loaded with colonies of Apis mellifera lamarkii would travel up and down the Nile River, following the seasonal abundance of flora. As beekeeping methods spread, most ancient cultures are known to have kept the bees that were endemic to their regions. As Europeans explored and colonized other parts of the globe, they transported and established the Western honey bee on every continent. These bees adapted and thrived in many places while in others, they succumbed to parasites and diseases originally adapted to other bee host species. In the early 1600s, the English colonists brought hives of Apis mellifera mellifera to the Jamestown settlement. These bees thrived in the old growth forests, and spread west in advance of the pioneers. These bees were said to be easily excitable, "runny" on the combs, and prone to some diseases however they overwintered well in cold climates. In the mid-19th century, the Italian race of bees, Apis mellifera lingustica, was imported to the U.S. and became the most popular race of domestic honey bee due to its gentle nature and high honey production.

Bees adapted to conditions in Europe faced fewer predators than those in Africa. The cold winters of northern Europe encouraged bees to gather excess honey for winter food, and forced the bees to develop their overwintering strategy of clustering for warmth. These traits helped the honey bees to thrive in North America, but when they were imported to South America, they did not fare as well in the tropical environment. In an attempt to breed a productive honey bee that was adapted to a tropical climate, Brazilian scientists in 1956 imported colonies of Apis mellifera scutellata from South Africa. In 1957, some of the bees escaped and bred with populations of European honey bees in Brazil. These hybrids became known as Africanized honey bees (AHB) and thrived in the tropical environment. They quickly spread and have since moved through Central America and Mexico, effectively replacing most of the European bee stock in these regions. In 1990 the first AHBs were detected in Texas. In 2005 they had entered Arkansas. Requeening colonies with bees of known gentle European stock will be essential in maintaining beekeeping in Arkansas with the arrival of the AHB.

Many races and hybrids of European honey bees are available for purchase in the U.S. There is no "perfect" honey bee for all locations, but the mixtures of traits that each type possesses can help the beekeeper choose a variety that may do well in a particular climate. The table below compares some of the general characteristics associated with some of the common types of honey bees available.

race/variety	scientific name	appearance	temperament/ behavior	honey production	propolis	disease/pests	brood production	overwintering	swarming	comments	origin
Italian	Apis mellifera lingustica	a classic golden yellow with black bands on the abdomen	very gentle, easy to work; prone to robbing and drifting, stay on combs during inspections; keep clean hives	very good under good conditions	moderate	fair resistance to European foulbrood and wax moths; robbing and drifting promote spread of diseases/pests	rapid spring build-up; maintains large brood area regardless of food supply, thus large portion of resources consumed for brood rearing	overwinter with large population, thus require large food supply for winter; can starve if food stores are exhausted	moderate	somewhat prone to drifting and robbing, but good mixture of characteristics makes the Italian a good choice for beginners; by far the most popular bee in the U.S.; queens are fairly easy to locate; these bees do well in temperate or warm climates, over long warm seasons with abundant forage and good weather, not as well during cold wet springs or hot dry summers;	Appenine Peninsula of Italy
Carniolan	Apis mellifera carnica	dark brown to gray or black, largest of domestic bee races	gentle, non-aggressive not prone to robbing, construct new comb slowly; forage earlier in the morning	reputed slightly less than Italians, but can do well in adverse climates	little	-	slow spring starters, but then build up very fast; brood production slows in times of nectar or pollen dearth, stops in fall	fly in cooler weather, overwinter in smaller clusters, efficient users of winter food stores, good choice for colder climates	can be very prolific, prone to excessive swarming	can be difficult to find the queen; does well in long cold winters, short springs and hot summers; better suited to northern climates than in the south; said to cross well with other races; best traits have been bred into "New World Carniolan" queens	alpine regions of Austria, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, and Danube Valley
Caucasian	Apis mellifera caucasica	silver-gray to dark brown or yellow; has longest tongue of domestic bee strains (can work flowers other bees can't reach)	very gentle; somewhat prone to robbing; forages earlier and on colder days; once alarmed, can be difficult to calm	fair to good, especially in wet climates	excessive, very sticky; also produces burr comb	susceptible to disease, especially nosema	slower build-up than Italians; becomes large and stong; can adjust boor rearing to current conditions; stops prd in fall	maintain good overwintering stores	low	difficult to locate queen; do well in both warm/humid and cold/damp climates; can fly in poor weather;	Caucasian mountains between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea; pure-breds not widely available in U.S.
German / English ("black bees")	Apis mellifera mellifera	dark brown to black	tend to be runny (run all over combs during inspection); often described as "excitble" or "mean" or "irritable"	can be good	lots	prone to diseases, especially EFB, don't defend well against wax moths	build up slowly in the spring	well-adapted to cold, damp climates	moderate to high	The bees origninally brought ot America by early colonists, later fell out of favor when Italians became available	northern Europe
Russian	Apis mellifera caucasica	a sub-type of Caucasian	aggressive/defensive of hives, often observed to head-butt before stinging,	moderate to good	excessive, very sticky; also produces burr comb	able to remove some varroa mites/tolerate more mites in nest than other types	brood production slows/stops in times of nectar dearth	overwinter well with small stores	moderate to high; always keeps some swarm cells ready	swarming unpredictable; can be expensive	a type of hybrid, bred from Caucasian bees originally brought to U.S. from eastern Russia for its increased ability to resist/tolerate Varroa mites
Cordovan	not a tue race, but a color due to a recessive genetic trait; often found in Italians, but can be found in other races	yellow bodies; reddish brown legs, head	very gentle; prone to robbing; excellent comb builders	good	little	fair	fair	consumes large volume of honey in winter	-	Color makes queen easy to locate; may perform poorly under cold, wet conditions; cordovan color can be bred into any line of bees, thus making it useful for open-mated breeding programs	technically term refers a color, not a true race, so could be found in any type of bee, but usually of Italians
Buckfast	hybrid of many races	golden to light grayish-brown	fairly gentle, low instinct to sting; can be defensive when disturbed; inclined to rob	excellent	little	highly resistant to tracheal mites and chalkbrood, other common ailments; very hygienic	start later, but build up fast in spring, makes them pslow down in fall for small clusters, survive cold winters and cool damp springs	require less than Italians, but more than Carniolans	low	A hybrid developed by Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey, a mixture of many races of bees; an excellent choice for beginners.	bred from bee races collected from all over
Minnesota-Hygeinic	hybrid of mainly Italians	yellow with black bands	exceptionally hygienic	good	moderate	bred to be very resistant to American Foul Brood and other diseases	similar to Italians	similar to Italians	moderate	selected for ability to detect, uncap, and remove diseased brood before they became contagious to the colony; some report that hygeinic behavior is lost or reduced after queen replacement.	developed as a result of research by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota,
Starline	hybrid line of Italian bees	similar to Italians	gentle	excellent under good conditions (especially suited for clover)	minimal	-	prolific brood producers; fast spring build-up	overwinter poorly; due to large population, needs large food reserve	moderate; large populations may require attention to prevent	queens resulting from swarm/supercedure do not have same traits as mother; require requeening each year	hybrid produced by crossign two unrelated lines of Italians, produced for hobbyists, not suitable for commercial operations
Midnite	(hybrid) Apis melliferacaucasia X carnica	varies, generally darker	very gentle	fair to good	moderate	-	-	-	-	queens resulting from swarm/supercedure do not have same traits as mother; require requeening each year	hybrid of Caucasian and Carniolan bees
Africanized Honey Bee (AHB)	(hybrid) Apis mellifera lingustica X scutelata	much like Italians, very accuarte morphometrics or DNA sample needed to determine AHB prevalence	extremeny defensive of hive territory, occasionally dangerous; prone to absconding	generally have smaller colonies, so collect less honey per hive	-	resistance to varroa mites reported	maintain smaller colonies than Italians	lack ability to cluster, have not established in colder climates; well-suited for tropical climates	high	because of their defensive nature, these bees should not be kept near human dwellings or around tethered/penned livestock; hives should be spaced apart to prevent alarm pheromone from one colony spreading to another	The result of accidental release from a Brazilian breeding program bewteen African bees and European bees, attempting to produce a vigourous honey producer adapted to the tropics. Arrived in U.S. in 1990.
Yugo	sub-type of Carniolan	-	-	-	-	tracheal mite resistant; varroa tollerant	-	overwinter well	low	crosses usually produce queens with hybrid vigor	-
All American	strain of Italian	darker than normal Italian	gentle; don't run on the combs	good	moderate	resistant to tracheal mites	prolific and build up quickly	generally keep an open brood nest, but will store honey below if crowded down in time	low	adapt well to most North American climates, but do best in warmer regions, especially in the southwest	a strain of Italians that have been selected over many years in the US for desitreable characteristics

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Beekeeping - Apiculture in Arkansas Types of Honey Bees

Beekeeping - Apiculture in Arkansas
Types of Honey Bees