Various Species of Honey Bees in Apiculture
There are over 20,000 species of wild bees, with honey bees being important for commercial apiculture. Four significant species reared are Apis dorsata (Rock bee), Apis florea (Little bee), Apis indica (Indian bee), and Apis mellifera (European bee). Each species has unique characteristics and yields varying amounts of honey per colony per year.
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Kinds of honey bees Dr.C.Esaivani Assistant professor, PG Department of Zoology Sarah Tucker College Tirunelveli
KINDS OF HONEY BEES There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees, including many which are solitary or colonial. Beekeeping or apiculture is concerned with the practical management of the social Species of honey-bees which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals. In commercial apiculture, four important species like Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis indica and Apis mellifera are reared. 1.Apis dorsata ( Rock bee ) 2.Apis florea ( Little bee ) 3.Apis indica ( Indian bee ) 4.Apis mellifera ( European bee )
Apis dorsata: The species is commonly called as rock-bee and it is largest Indian variety with an average length of about 20 mm. It makes largest hives measuring 2.1m* 1.0m on tree branches, under roof of high buildings. Workers are brown, drones and queens are black. Usually they migrate towards hilly region during rainy season and come back to the plains during winter. The workers are very much active and they have been found up to the height of 3,500 ft above the sea level. It has been found to yield honey about 15 kg per colony per year. It may extends up to 30 to 40 kg.
Apis florea : The species is commonly called little bee and treated as the smallest of all the bees. It makes a single comb of the size of palm suspended from branches of bushes, hedges, buildings, caves, chimneys etc .Abdomen shows colour variation in different morphs- orange coloured with White and black stripes in worker, brown coloured in drone and golden brown in queen. It is found all over plains never above 450 m. It yields honey with poor quantity, about kg per colony per year.
Apis indica : It is medium sized bee species and spread over Pakistan, Sri Lanka, S.E Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, China and Japan. In India it is seen with two Varity like large and small. Large variety prevails at hilly-zone while the smaller variety is marked at plains. The species appears with three sub species in India viz. Apis Cerana indica, Apis cerana cerana and Apis cerana himalaya. The first subspecies is seen in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and karnataka. The second one prevails at Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir and the third species is found inAssam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland. All morphs are black in colour. The bee makes parallel combs on tress, termitaries, hollows of rocks and all kinds of cavities It yields honey of about 3.6-4.5 kg at hilly region and 1.3to 1.2 kg in the plains.
Apis Mellifera : It is commonly known as European bee but has been originated in Italy. The species is commonly seen in the plains. It has many subspecies like Apis mellifera ligustica ( Italy ), Apis mellifera carnica ( America ), Apis mellifera mellifera ( French ), Apis mellifera adansoni ( Africa ), Apis mellifera sinensis ( China ), Apis mellifera indica ( India ). The bees are blackish in colour. It yields about 30-50 kg/ colony/ year. The bee is well adapted in the rearing of modern frame hive culture.
