Apis mellifera -- western or European honeybee, dining along with others on a milkweed flower. Apparently a melanic form, because Bugguide assures me that it is "just a dark one."
8 Comments
alicejohn · 2 October 2014
Nice picture.
Generally speaking, the different races of honey bees are colored differently. Apis mellifera ligustica (commonly known as Italian bees) have the golden color most people imagine when they think of honey bees. Apis mellifera carnica (commonly known as carniolan bees) are darker brown to black. There are many other races of bees.
The Italian bees were very popular in the US until a parasitic mite was introduced in the country in the late 1980's. The carniolan bees are becoming more popular because it appears they more resistant to the mite.
A worker bee like this one only lives for 45 days or so in the summer time. You can tell this is an older bee because of the damage to the end of her right wing from many miles of flying while foraging.
truvahorse · 3 October 2014
Very nice photo.
ABOUT CAUCASIAN HONEY BEE
Location: Its original spreading area starts from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus and spans on towards to the North East Anatolia.
General Morphology: The body is big, abdomen is large. It is a honey bee breed with the longest tongue. Abdomen chitin colour is black. There are narrow and uncertain yellow bands or brown spots on the first part of the abdomen. Scutellum is black colour. Tomentum is large and dense. Hairs covering the body are short and gray. The chitin colour of queen and males are deep. Thorax hairs of male bee are black.
Behavioural and Physiologic Characteristics: It is quite submissive. It is growing slowly in the spring as growing speed of young is slow and it cannot reach the power of colony before the summer come. Its ability to set in for winter is not high. It is sensitive to Nosema among diseases of adult bees. Tendency of swarming is low. It tends to plunder. Its ability of producing honey and profiting from plants whose nectar is in depth as clover (trefoil) are higher than the other breeds because its tongue is long. It can be active on fields in low temperatures and harsh conditions. It is a honey bee breed that uses propolis most. It tends to make irregular honeycomb bridge. Its honey with honeycomb seems dark and moist because it does not bring air holes as it is silvering the cells in honeycomb.
Breeding Conditions: They are not raised prevalently because their ability to set in winter is low and they are sensitive to Nosema. Because growing speed of young is slow, producing honey is hard for them in the south regions where nectar current exists early in the spring. They are successful in flora where flowers have deep and dominant tubes. It is expected that their honey production would be high in regions where nectar current is slow but last long. In short nectar currents they tend to make stock for broody.
Matt Young · 3 October 2014
Generally speaking, the different races of honey bees are colored differently. Apis mellifera ligustica (commonly known as Italian bees) have the golden color most people imagine when they think of honey bees. Apis mellifera carnica (commonly known as carniolan bees) are darker brown to black. There are many other races of bees.
This bee was browsing (if that is the right word) along with a swarm of "normal" black and yellow honeybees. Is it most likely a "dark one" from the same colony then, or a passerby from another subspecies?
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 3 October 2014
What I wonder is, what happened to its wing. Predation?
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad said:
What I wonder is, what happened to its wing. Predation?
Glen Davidson
Maybe it didn't bee hive itself?
alicejohn · 3 October 2014
The caucasian bee (Apis mellifera caucasica) is another race of honey bee.
A couple more notable races:
-Apis mellifera mellifera (I always liked the name) is from Northern Europe is a dark bee called the German or English bee.
-Apis mellifera scutelata is from Africa and called the African bee. This bee has hybridized with other honey bees in the Americas and is referred to there as Africanized or "killer" bees.
alicejohn · 3 October 2014
Matt Young said:
Generally speaking, the different races of honey bees are colored differently. Apis mellifera ligustica (commonly known as Italian bees) have the golden color most people imagine when they think of honey bees. Apis mellifera carnica (commonly known as carniolan bees) are darker brown to black. There are many other races of bees.
This bee was browsing (if that is the right word) along with a swarm of "normal" black and yellow honeybees. Is it most likely a "dark one" from the same colony then, or a passerby from another subspecies?
The honey bee forages for pollen and nectar from the flowers.
The different color bees foraging on the same flowers can come from different hives or the same hive. Queen bees mate once in their lifetime in flight. During one or more mating flights, she will mate with a dozen or more male (drone) bees. She will accumulate enough mating material to lay several hundred thousand eggs over several years. Therefore, all of the bees in a given hive have the same mother but several fathers. It is not unusual to see bees of several different colors (and other characteristics) in a single bee hive because they have different fathers.
Honey bees reproduce on a colony level. When the conditions are right, the queen and a large number of bees will leave the hive to form a new hive. The old hive will requeen itself and continue. When this happens, the bees leaving the hive are called a swarm. If you see a loud tornado-like formation of bees, that is a swarm. They will rest in a clump (in a tree, on a fence, etc) while they decide where to form the new hive.
alicejohn · 3 October 2014
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad said:
What I wonder is, what happened to its wing. Predation?
Glen Davidson
The first half or so of the a worker honey bee's life is spent inside the hive. Unless an invader tries to get in the hive, the bee's wings do not have many opportunities to get damaged. During the second half of her life, she is foraging among the flowers. The wings get damaged as the wings strike objects as she goes from flower to flower
8 Comments
alicejohn · 2 October 2014
Nice picture.
Generally speaking, the different races of honey bees are colored differently. Apis mellifera ligustica (commonly known as Italian bees) have the golden color most people imagine when they think of honey bees. Apis mellifera carnica (commonly known as carniolan bees) are darker brown to black. There are many other races of bees.
The Italian bees were very popular in the US until a parasitic mite was introduced in the country in the late 1980's. The carniolan bees are becoming more popular because it appears they more resistant to the mite.
A worker bee like this one only lives for 45 days or so in the summer time. You can tell this is an older bee because of the damage to the end of her right wing from many miles of flying while foraging.
truvahorse · 3 October 2014
Very nice photo.
ABOUT CAUCASIAN HONEY BEE
Location:
Its original spreading area starts from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus and spans on towards to the North East Anatolia.
General Morphology:
The body is big, abdomen is large. It is a honey bee breed with the longest tongue. Abdomen chitin colour is black. There are narrow and uncertain yellow bands or brown spots on the first part of the abdomen. Scutellum is black colour. Tomentum is large and dense. Hairs covering the body are short and gray. The chitin colour of queen and males are deep. Thorax hairs of male bee are black.
Behavioural and Physiologic Characteristics:
It is quite submissive. It is growing slowly in the spring as growing speed of young is slow and it cannot reach the power of colony before the summer come. Its ability to set in for winter is not high. It is sensitive to Nosema among diseases of adult bees. Tendency of swarming is low. It tends to plunder. Its ability of producing honey and profiting from plants whose nectar is in depth as clover (trefoil) are higher than the other breeds because its tongue is long. It can be active on fields in low temperatures and harsh conditions. It is a honey bee breed that uses propolis most. It tends to make irregular honeycomb bridge. Its honey with honeycomb seems dark and moist because it does not bring air holes as it is silvering the cells in honeycomb.
Breeding Conditions:
They are not raised prevalently because their ability to set in winter is low and they are sensitive to Nosema. Because growing speed of young is slow,
producing honey is hard for them in the south regions where nectar current exists early in the spring. They are successful in flora where flowers have deep and dominant tubes. It is expected that their honey production would be high in regions where nectar current is slow but last long. In short nectar currents they tend to make stock for broody.
Matt Young · 3 October 2014
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 3 October 2014
What I wonder is, what happened to its wing. Predation?
Glen Davidson
Henry J · 3 October 2014
alicejohn · 3 October 2014
The caucasian bee (Apis mellifera caucasica) is another race of honey bee.
A couple more notable races:
-Apis mellifera mellifera (I always liked the name) is from Northern Europe is a dark bee called the German or English bee.
-Apis mellifera scutelata is from Africa and called the African bee. This bee has hybridized with other honey bees in the Americas and is referred to there as Africanized or "killer" bees.
alicejohn · 3 October 2014
alicejohn · 3 October 2014