A Review of Honeybee Biodiversity, Behaviour and Management

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Biology - Zoology, grade: A, ( Atlantic International University ) (School of Science and Engineering), course: Master of Science (Applied Entomology), language: English, abstract: Bees evolved in specific areas of the world long ago, before they spread to become globally as they are today (Tables 1 and II), according to Kugonza (2009). As they spread, they became adapted to the local ecological conditions of the different areas, changing in morphology and behaviour to fit within the requirements of the ecosystem, giving rise to a wide bee biodiversity of bee species and races we see today. Bees are classified under Animal Kingdom, Phylum Arthropoda. They belong to Class Insecta, which is divided into 29 Orders. Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera, which has three Super families, namely: Apoidea (bees), Formicoidea (ants) and Vespoidea (wasps). There are around 30,000 named species of bees (Apoidea). Apoidea is further divided into several Families, namely Apidae (social bees), colletidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, Melittidae, Megachilidae, and Anthophoridae. Most of the Families have solitary individuals: each female bee makes her own nest, lays a single egg and provides food for the single larva that develops. However, a high level of social development is shown by the species in Apidae where the individuals live together in a permanent, large colony, headed by a single egg-laying queen (BfD, 2003c). Apidae is composed of four genera: Apis (honeybees), Trigona and Melipona (stingless bees), and Bombus (bumble bees). According to MAAIF (2012a), the genus Apis is comprised of 5 main species of honey bees: Apis dorsata (the giant honey bee); Apis laboriosa (the darker giant honey bee); Apis florea (the little or dwarf honey bee); Apis cerana (formerly Apis indica), is the eastern hive honey bee; and Apis mellifera (western honey bee). These species have evolved and differentiated into more species and races of honey bees. Kugonza (2009) described 9 species of honey bees in the world, which Oldroyd and Wongsiri (2006) grouped under 3 subgenera: Micrapis (Apis florea and A. andreniformis), Megapis (A. dorsata and A. laboriosa) and Apis (A. cerana, recently recognized as separate races of A. nigrocinta, A. koschevnikovi and A. nuluensis, and A. mellifera). Dietz (1992), Hussein (2000) and Wikipedia (2012) described over 28 races of A. mellifera alone. Beekeeping started with honey bees (Apis species), a practice called Apiculture, although keeping of stingless bees, belonging to the genera Trigona and Melipona, a practice called Meliponiculture, has recently picked up [...]