Italian bee

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Italian bee
Italian bee (A. m. Ligustica)

Italian bee ( A. m. Ligustica )

Systematics
without rank: Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Apidae
Subfamily : Apinae
Genre : Honey bees ( apis )
Type : Western honey bee ( Apis mellifera )
Subspecies : Italian bee
Scientific name
Apis mellifera ligustica
Spinola , 1806

The Italian bee ( Apis mellifera ligustica , also: Italian bee ) is a naturally developed breed (subspecies) of the western honey bee ( Apis mellifera ). Of the beekeepers it is also easy Ligustica called.

description

The bee is native to the Italian peninsula. Their color always tends to yellow with a variation between lemon yellow and leather brown. As a bee that originally lived there, it has excellent properties in terms of diligence in collecting honey and being peaceful. She is considered the best collector of blossom honey. Beekeepers in other parts of the world have also recognized this. This breed is now the most frequently kept honeybee in the world. It is even used successfully for beekeeping in Scandinavia and Alaska. It was never able to prevail in Germany, but, unlike the Carnica bee from Carinthia, no efforts were made to select it for German conditions.

Bruno Pasini and Maria Teresa Falda have shaped Ligustica breeding in recent years. "L'allevamento di api Regine: Una per tutte ... tutte per una" (The breeding of queen bees: one for all ... all for one) is the current work. Ligustica has selected its own breeding association especially for the production of royal jelly .

features

According to Friedrich Ruttner, the essential characteristics of the Italian bee are:

  • Shape:
    • medium-sized
    • slim
    • long body appendages
  • Armor color of the abdomen of the workers:
    • clearly 1 - 3 rings, yellow color alternately extensive:
    • Felt bandages (4th back scale): broad, yellowish
    • Overshair on 5th dorsal scale: short

literature

  • Klaus Nowottnick: The honey bee. Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft, Hohenwarsleben 2004, ISBN 3-89432-523-2 , p. 38ff.
  • Bruno Pasini e Maria Teresa Falda: L'allevamento di api Regine: Una per Tutte ... Tutte per Una. Edito da Aspromiele (copyright Unaapi).

Web links

Commons : Italian bee ( Apis mellifera ligustica )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Ruttner: Breeding technology and breeding selection in the bee. 5th edition, Ehrenwirth Verlag, 1983, ISBN 3-431-02555-2 , pp. 131ff.