The Honeybee Family
In order to understand and study animals the zoologist has classified them by placing them in groups showing similar characteristics:
| Group | Name | English Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom Phyllum Class Order Sub-order Section Super Family Family Sub-Family Genera Species |
Animalia Arthropoda Insecta (Hexapoda) Hymenoptera Apocrita Aculeata Apidae Apinae Apis cerana dorsata florea mellifera |
Animal (with) possessing a sting. Honeybees. |
A more detailed table showing the place of the honeybee in the hymenoptera is given in The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Beekeeping edited by Roger Morse and Ted Hooper.
There are 20,000 species of bees in the world. Bees differ from other insects by having bodies covered with plumose hairs and by living on a diet of pollen and nectar. The hairs aid the bee in pollen collection and the pollination of flowers. There are two main groups of bees: solitary and social.
Solitary bees, as the name suggests, do not live together in a colony. A typical example is the mason bee, Osmia rufa. The female is attracted to old buildings with soft mortar, where she can drill a hole in which to lay an egg. Suitable mortar may attract many solitary bees - some are gregarious if not social. But scare stories of houses falling down because of the attentions of mason bees is nonsense - the house needs repointing!
Honeybees are the only bees that live together in a complex well-organised society and store food to enable the colony to survive the winter, when forage is no longer available. Wasps and bumblebees do not accumulate surplus stores of food and do not survive the cold of winter. In the autumn, queens are reared and these leave to find suitable sites where they hibernate until the following spring when they emerge and the colony cycle begins again.
The four species of honeybees are obviously closely related, their anatomy and behaviour being very similar. However, no member of one species can mate with a member of another, the true mark of a species.
Apis florea (the little honeybee) and Apis dorsata (the giant honeybee) are both indigenous to India. They both build a single free-hanging comb. The difference is in the size of the built comb - the former is very small and the latter very large. Apis florea tends to abscond when disturbed. This "flight instead of fight" strategy is the main factor which has prevented the domestication of Apis florea, since quite minor interference, readily tolerated by our bees can induce it to desert. Honey is harvested from both Apis florea and dorsata. In Nepal, for example, the method used to collect the huge combs of Apis dorsata involves hanging from ropes over cliff faces.
Apis cerana (the Eastern honeybee) is kept in hives - being smaller than the Western honeybee, the hives are a smaller version of the Langstroth design. It is native to India and South East Asia.
Apis mellifera is the Western honeybee - the honeybee of this country. Apis mellifera probably originated as a successful species in the central part of North Africa. From here it spread to the south to colonise the greater part of Africa, to the east to colonise the Middle East and South East Europe and to the west. Many sub-species evolved in response to environmental conditions - including the Italian (Apis mellifera ligustica), Carniolan (A. m. carnica), Caucasian (A. m. caucasica) and the Dark European (A. m. mellifera) honeybees. It has been introduced into almost every country in the world.
There were no indigenous honeybees in any part of the New World - the Americas and Australasia. (Information regarding the introduction of honeybees into the New World obtained, in part, from The Bee Book by Daphne More, published by David & Charles). European colonists introduced honeybees, probably early in the seventeenth century. Eva Crane (A Book of Honey) quotes the earliest likely record, a letter dated 5th December, 1621, from the Council of the Virginia Company in London to the Governor and Council in Virginia: "We have by this ship and the Discovery sent you divers sorte of seed, and fruit trees, as also Pidgeons, Connies, Peacocke maistives, and Beehives".
The eighteenth century statesman Thomas Jefferson mentioned in his Notes on Virginia that the Indians believed bees came from Europe, referring to them as "white man's flies" because they were always seen in advance of the settlers - white clover, which spread similarly, was known as the "white man's foot":
Whereso'er they move, before them Hiawatha by H. W. Longfellow (1855). |
|---|
In the beginning honeybees were rare and costly - in 1660 a stock of bees in Massachusetts was valued at £5, a considerable sum at that time. Honeybees quickly became an essential part of the local fauna living in the forests of New England and Virginia in large numbers. Honeybees from Europe reached Australia in 1822 on the convict ship Isabella. In 1840, £4 was paid for a hive of bees in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, by a settler who hired an aborigine to carry it forty miles to his home. The first Italian bees to arrive in Australia were sent out by Thomas Woodbury of Exeter, England, in 1862.
"Until lately bees were unknown in Australia. A gentleman who had noticed this fact, when he visited England, obtained a well-filled hive, and took it with him on his return to the colony. It was placed on deck during the voyage, the bees having perfect liberty; and however far they sometimes flew over the waters, they were sure to return to the ship. In this way they were carried sixteen thousand miles to HobartTown. When safely arrived, the hive of bees was presented to the governor, who placed it in his garden. The bees there found a rich supply of food, and so thrived that twenty swarms were the produce of this one hive in the first year. The governor kindly presented the increase to his friends and, in a few seasons, most gardens in the colony were furnished with a hive of bees."
Extract from The Hive and its Wonders published by The Religious Tract Society (undated).
In New Zealand, Mary Anna Bumby (sister of a missionary) arrived on 20th March, 1838 bringing two straw skeps of bees from Thirsk, Yorkshire. Two more hives were brought from Australia two years later. In 1844, the Reverend William Cotton left England for New Zealand. He took with him beehives packed inside ventilated barrels resting on racks above blocks of ice with cinders filling the space in the upper half. Unfortunately, the sailors thought the bad weather they encountered was caused by the bees and threw them overboard!
In 1986, a sample of dark bees from an isolated apiary in Tasmania were examined and recognised as A m mellifera, probably descendants from colonies taken out by the early settlers. The area around the apiary is now an 'exclusion zone' and it is forbidden to take bees into or through the area. Would that our own authorities took as commendable an interest in native bees as the Tasmanian government! ('Some Notes on Beekeeping in Tasmania' by Stan Millard in The Bee Breeder No. 4 1988 published by BIBBA.)
The scientific name for our honeybee Apis mellifera means "the honey-bearing bee", which is not a very good description. It was the first name given by Carl von Linn‚ in his Systema Naturae in 1758. He later changed the name to Apis mellifica, "the honey-making bee", which is much more accurate. However, this name was invalidated by the International Rules of Nomenclature in which 1758 was chosen as the date after which names cannot be changed.
The Sub-species of Honeybees
Most people have heard of the so-called "Killer Bees" from stories in the popular press and films. Up to about thirty years ago the aggressive bees of Africa were little known outside that continent. In 1956, mated Apis mellifera scutellata (previously referred to as A. m. adonsonii) queens from Africa were introduced into colonies in Brazil. The object was to improve the Dark European bees Apis mellifera mellifera (q.v.), introduced by the Portuguese a century or more ago. The expectation was that the honey-getting vigour of Apis mellifera scutellata allied to the gentle behaviour of Apis mellifera mellifera would improve honey yields. This objective was seemingly achieved: honey production has risen from 5,000 tons a year in 1956 to five times that quantity thirty years later. But the effect on beekeeping has been far-reaching. Inadvertently, several of the queens mated in Africa were allowed to swarm. Since then, they and their descendants have crossed with the local bees, retaining in full measure their tropical, aggressive nature. It is probable that they have not crossed with the local bees - it is more likely that the African bees have dominated and replaced the indigenous bees. Their propensity to swarm has enabled them to spread rapidly - from Brazil the Africanized or African bees have spread out over the whole of South America and have reached the United States, much to the concern of the many honey producers in that country. Swarms of Africanized bees have been found from Brownsville to Larado Texas (1991 report). The US media widely reported the first stinging attack, when a Brownsville man received 18 stings. The public is being warned: "Don't bug the bees!".
The sensational stories of Killer Bees have exaggerated the facts. Their aggression (evolved in response to harsh conditions in their country of origin) is expressed by the large number of bees that attack and the area they are prepared to defend - they will follow victims 100 yards. But the effect of a sting is the same as with our bees - fatalities have occurred mainly resulting from the larger number of stings inflicted. Unfortunately, stories about Killer Bees, whether true or not, have done nothing to promote bees and beekeeping in this country. The disastrous result of importing foreign bees and having them interbreed with the indigenous population in the belief that improvements can be achieved should be noted.
The Cape bee, Apis mellifera capensis, occurs in a restricted area of the Cape of Good Hope. It is unique among all the honeybees. When queenless, the worker bees lay eggs and from these unfertilized eggs develop female bees and not drones as happens with our bees. Queens can be reared from these worker-laid eggs, enabling the colony to survive queenlessness. Thelytoky, parthenogenetic reproduction where unfertilized eggs develop into females, is common in the Cape honeybee but is not strictly unique. In colonies with queens, most worker ovaries are suppressed by the pheromones produced by the queen and the presence of unsealed brood. In rare instances, virgin queens and laying workers produce eggs that develop into females.
The indigenous bee of this country was the British "black", Apis mellifera mellifera, also known as the British "brown"! Included in this group are the Dutch, German and French dark brown and black bees. A better term is the Dark European bee. The original homeland was Europe, north and west of the Alps, and central Russia to the Urals. It was a bee that had evolved over millions of years to survive in cool climates and was suited to our fickle climate and scanty nectar flows. Opinions of the British black bee vary, especially regarding their temper - probably due to the influence of imports on the purity of the race. It is generally agreed that the chief characteristic was their ability to produce surplus under adverse conditions. The queens were not prolific and the bees were long-lived. They were good comb-builders and they sealed their honey with a smooth white capping which was of great value in the production of comb honey. They wintered well on the minimum of stores. They placed a supply of honey round the brood and rarely failed to keep this intact - in fact, the queen would cease laying if the supply of food was running short. They were never eager to swarm. The British bee remained pure until 1859, when Thomas Woodbury procured queens from Liguria in Italy.
R. Spruce in an article in Bee Craft (December 1989) states that G. Neighbour imported the first Italian bees to this country in 1814 - the main importation did not come directly from Italy but from the Swiss Valleys sloping towards the Italian border. These bees were the product of Captain Balderstein in 1843 and were much sought after by the European beekeepers. In 1855 Thomas Woodbury from Exeter, Devon, read about the good performance of these bees and he and G. Neighbour imported some queens – these did not survive before breeding commenced. In 1859, Thomas Woodbury imported queens and from the colonies that resulted, more queens were produced (presumably crosses with the British Black bee) and were distributed to fellow beekeepers. G. Neighbour also imported Carniolan bees, which he gave to Rev. W. C. Cotton. Importations have continued until the present day.
The Italian bees were (and still are by some beekeepers) favoured because of their reputed docility. However, Italian bees are better suited to the Mediterranean countries - the queen continues laying in poor weather, colonies often need feeding as a result and they do not winter well when conditions are harsh. More importantly, matings with local bees (over which there can be no control) often produce bad-tempered crosses. But from 1859 until the present day, queens of various races have been introduced into this country from all parts of the world.
Joseph Tinsley wrote (Beekeeping Up-To-Date, 1945) that the largest influx of foreign bees occurred following the spread of the " Isle of Wight" disease to the mainland during the first quarter of this century. Later identified as acarine, a parasitic mite that invades the bee's breathing tubes, the disease decimated colonies of the native bees. At the time, the country was at war with Germany, sugar was scarce and honey was in great demand. Bees were also needed for pollination. Holland had great numbers of skeps of bees for sale and these were purchased as part of the government's restocking programme. Since the Dutch bee was known to be given to swarming, it was the practice to requeen colonies with Italian queens, which at the time were cheap and easily obtainable.
The IOW disease raged from 1904 until the 1920s. It was several years before the causative agent of acarine, acarapis woodi, was identified and several more years before a cure was found. There is disagreement as to whether acarine was solely responsible for all mortalities. It was a period when skep beekeeping was giving way to movable-frame hives. Skep beekeeping relied on swarms building new comb, which probably prevented the build-up of disease. Overstocking apiaries has also been suggested as a cause of the spread of the disease. It may be that the Italian bee was more susceptible to acarine - certainly in recent years America has experienced problems with stocks of Italian bees and the 'tracheal mite', as they call acarine.
However, as in all epidemics, whether in man or livestock, some survive. Those that live through a prolonged attack of disease invariably show resistance and become more or less immune - in Darwinian terms, the survival of the fittest. It is not true as many authors have stated that the British black was completely wiped out. Many colonies survived especially further north of the country (although William Hamilton, in The Art of Beekeeping states that "even in some of the Highlands of Scotland ... foreign queens had been imported as far back as the sixties of the last century".). If, instead of importing foreign bees, a programme of selective breeding from the surviving stocks had been undertaken, we would probably have gone a long way in the improvement of our bees. As it was, Dutch, Italian and the remaining native bees were allowed to mix freely and breed with the result that mongrels were produced. There has been deterioration in the temper of bees as a result. Compare pictures of skeppist beekeepers working hives without protective clothing and the minimum of smoke with the excessively protective clothing of recent years, which makes careful handling difficult. These bad-tempered bees are a source of nuisance and annoyance to neighbours. They can cause much bad feeling and sometimes provoke litigation. We must have bees that will survive and produce surplus honey in our uncertain climate - and which do not terrorise the beekeeper and neighbours. Not only have imports of foreign races of bees produced a mishmash of bad-tempered mongrels but also there is always the risk of bringing in exotic diseases. Varroa, a parasitic mite, has been brought to this country having caused devastation all over the world. Recent EC regulations will allow the movement of livestock (including bees) between member states and this is a matter of great concern. Native bees can still be found in this country. They can be distinguished from mongrel bees and other races by morphometry, which involves the measurement of wing venation, hair length, colour, etc.
Germany faced the same problems as we do today. Their bees were bad-tempered, swarmy, unproductive mongrels. They decided to restock using the Carniolan bee, since this could be obtained in a pure form. As a result, more honey was produced in West Germany than in the whole of Germany before the last war, even though the number of hives has decreased and there is less forage. Increased production and remarkable gentleness have been achieved only after many years of careful selection. It must be emphasised that all the four sub-species, Carniolan, Caucasian, Italian and Dark European, are gentle when pure and that hybrids become aggressive, often in the first generation.
There are many sub-species that have evolved to cope with the conditions of the area in which they live. Apis mellifera ligustica, the Italian bee, has been mentioned. The bee is recognised by yellow or tan bands on the abdomen. In spite of many excellent qualities, it has never become properly naturalised north of the Alps and does not take kindly to northerly winters. It is interesting to note that after so many years of importing yellow Italian bees, our bees tend to be dark rather than yellow - black absorbs heat, an essential quality for survival in a cold climate. Apis mellifera carnica, the Carniolan, has broad grey bands on the abdomen. Native to the south-eastern Alps, the north Balkan region and the Danube, it is quiet and gentle, can withstand the hardest winter but swarms excessively. Apis mellifera caucasica, the long-tongued Caucasian bee, has also been imported into this country. It is also grey and comes originally from the Caucasus and is widespread in Russia and Central Europe. The Caucasian bee has the longest tongue of all the sub-species and is able to reach the nectaries of red clover - hence its popular name of "the red clover bee". The characteristics of these bees are often stated but much depends on the strain, their purity, and the conditions under which they are kept.
Finally, mention must be made of the Buckfast bee. Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey in Devon spent his long life attempting to breed the "perfect bee". Different opinions are given of its qualities and there appears to be variability in the queens supplied. This is not surprising since the Buckfast queen has been produced by mixing different races of bees. But however good the Buckfast queen and its progeny may be, later generations are unlikely to exhibit the same qualities and are likely to prove bad-tempered - as with all such crosses. Since it is not a stable sub-species, it can not breed true. And the drones are free to fly and mate with the local queens, thereby influencing many colonies in a wide area.
It is interesting to compare honey yields in the past with the present day. Opinions, again, differ! R.O.B. Manley (Beekeeping in Britain) says "Anyone who will take the trouble to look over a few old books that deal with the beekeeping in this country at a time previous to the introduction of foreign, especially Italian, bees will be struck by the exceedingly small crops of honey that apparently satisfied our predecessors". Whereas, Joseph Tinsley said "It is interesting to go through the pages of the British Beekeepers' Journal and compare the honey yields of the beekeepers in the years before the acarine disease appeared, and the present time. In 1899 Lancelot Quayle, in the Isle of Man, produced 352 lb of honey from a single stock, and had an average of 200 lb from 12 stocks. Again, in 1901-2 his average was 187 and 122 lb respectively, but after being cleared out with the disease, his average has, with other strains of bees, never been more than 50-80 lb. Similar yields to Quayle's were freely reported in the Journal. I doubt very much whether our yields of honey compare favourably with those obtained by the older beekeepers".
That wonderful writer about beekeeping should have the last word: “Let British bee-keepers cease to import queen bees from Italy and elsewhere, and stick to the good old English Black. The English black bee is a more geneous honey-maker in indifferent seasons; she does not swarm so determinedly, under proper treatment, as the Ligurians, or Carniolans; and, above all, though she is not so handsome as some of her Continental rivals, she comes of a hardy northern race, and stands the ups and downs of the British winter better than any other of the fantastic yellow-girdled crew from overseas.” (The Bee-Master Of Warrilow, 1920).
© Brian P. Dennis – 2004