Caucasian honey bee

Taxobox
name = Caucasian bee
status = secure
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hymenoptera
subordo = Apocrita
familia = Apidae
subfamilia = Apinae
tribus = Apini
genus = "Apis"
species = " A. mellifera"
subspecies = "A. m. caucasica"
trinomial = "Apis mellifera caucasica"
trinomial_authority = Gorbachev, 1916The Caucasian honey bee is a sub-species of the Western honey bee.

Origin

The Caucasian honey bee originates from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus.

Anatomy and Appearance

*Shape and Size: similar to "A. m. carnica"
*Chitin Color: dark with brown spots at times
*Hair Color: lead-grey
*Tongue Length: up to 7.2 mm

Behavior

beneficial for beekeeping

*gentle and calm on the comb
*ardent brood production - raising strong colonies
*colonies reach full strength in mid-summer, which is good for areas where the highest nectar flow is in mid-summer
*very great user of propolis
*in its native area a better honey producer than the European dark bee

not beneficial for beekeeping

*colonies do not reach full strength until mid-summer, which is an undesirable trait for areas with the highest nectar flow in the spring.
*the great use of propolis may be seen as undesirable as it makes hive management more difficult. Frames and hive boxes are glued together more substantially.
*over wintering in northern climates not good due to susceptibility to nosema
*inclined to drifting and robbingthe mouth length of caucasian bee is maximume and it is 7.70

ource

The Hive and the honeybee, Chapter 11 "Races of bees" by Prof. Friedrich Ruttner, published by Dadant 1975