From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Races of Honeybees (Apis mellifera)
- Apis mellifera mellifera: (German honeybee) Northern Europe, domesticated in modern times, taken to North America in colonial times
- Apis mellifera carnica: (Carniolan honeybee) Southeastern Europe, popular with beekeepers due to its gentleness.
- Apis mellifera ligustica: (Italian honeybee) Italy - the most commonly kept race in North America, South America and southern Europe. They are relatively gentle, not terribly inclined to swarm, and produce a large surplus of honey.
- Apis mellifera cypria: (Cyprian honeybee) The island of Cyprus. This sub-species has the reputation of being rather more fierce than the neighboring Italian sub-species, from which it is isolated by the Mediterranean Sea.
- Apis mellifera caucasica: (Caucasian honeybee) Caucasus Mountains. This sub-species is regarded as being relatively gentle and industrious.
- Apis mellifera lamarckii: (Lamarkian honeybee) Egypt
- Apis mellifera scutellata: (African honeybee) central and west Africa, hybrids of this species in the Americas are called Africanized bees. The intense struggle for survival of honeybees in sub-Saharan Africa is given as the reason that this sub-species is proactive in defending the hive, and also more likely to abandon an existing hive and swarm to a more secure location. They direct more of their energies to defensive behaviors and less of their energies to honey storage.
- Apis mellifera anatoliaca: (Anatolan honeybee) Turkey
- Apis mellifera capensis: (Cape honeybee) South Africa
- Apis mellifera nubica: (Nubian honeybee) Sudan
- Apis mellifera syriaca: (Syrian honeybee Near East
- Apis mellifera iberica: (Iberian honeybee) Spain, Portugal
- Apis mellifera monticola: High altitudes of east Africa
- Apis mellifera litorca: Low elevations of east Africa
- Apis mellifera sahariensis: Northwest Africa A. I. Root's The ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping, indicates that this sub-species faces few predators other than humans and is therefore extremely gentle. Moreover, because of the low density of nectar-producing vegetation around the oases it colonizes, it forages up to five miles, much farther than sub-species from less arid regions.
- Apis mellifera meda: Iraq
This is not an exhaustive list. Additions and information on each race is welcomed
