Caucasian honey bee

The Caucasian honey bee (Apis mellifera caucasia,[1] commonly misspelled caucasica[2]) is a subspecies of the western honey bee.

Caucasian honey bee
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Apis
Species:
A. mellifera
Subspecies:
A. m. caucasia
Trinomial name
Apis mellifera caucasia
Pollmann, 1889
Synonyms
  • Apis mellifera caucasica Gorbachev, 1916
  • Apis mellifera pomonella Sheppaard & Meixner, 2003

Origin

The Caucasian honey bee originates from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus. Georgia is the “central homeland” for the subspecies, although the bees also can be found in eastern Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.[3]

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
  • Longest proboscis, so it can extract nectar from the deepest nectar tissues, where no other species can
  • 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 is not good due to susceptibility to nosema.
  • Inclined to drifting and robbing

In Turkey, beekeepers purposefully bring hives of Apis mellifera caucasia to areas of dense Rhododendron ponticum blooms to purposefully sequester grayanotoxin laden honey called "mad honey." This coveted novelty honey is referred to as "deli bal" and is neurotoxic.[4] These bees are also less susceptible than Apis m. mellifera to acute exposure to Imidacloprid, a neurotoxic pesticide.[5]

Worldwide distribution
Frank Benton and Georgian entomologist Ilarion Kavtaradze, circa 1905, Georgia, Caucasus

The Caucasian (Georgian) honeybee has a long history of importance to beekeeping worldwide. The bees were first introduced in the United States in the 19th century. The Caucasian honey bee was a subspecies that came to have enduring interest to U.S. beekeepers. Frank Benton (1852–1919) visited Georgia in 1905 and supported the import of honeybees to the United States.[6]

The Russian revolution and consequent annexation of Georgia by the Red Army in 1921 halted the export of Caucasian honey bees. Subspecies were studied and cultivated primarily by Soviet entomologists. Soviet officials were concerned about preserving the purity of the Caucasian subspecies and outlawed any export without special permission.[7]

International exports were continued from 1969. According to a UK newspaper "GOLDEN BEE the grey mountain bee of the Soviet Union has been judged the best in the world and awarded a gold medal. The grey Caucasian bee is distinguished for its industry and it collects honey, even when it is raining. Many foreign beemasters have requested for the Golden bee and as many as 200,000 have been sent to Europe, Asia and America this year." (Sunday Mirror June 1, 1969) [8]

International awards

The Caucasian honey bee received three gold medals at the international events – at the International Exhibition of Gardening in Erfurt (Germany) in 1961; at the 20th APIMONDIA International Congress in Bucharest (Romania) in 1965; and at the 23rd APIMONDIA International Congress in Moscow in 1971.[9][10]

Sources

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

References
  1. Michael S. Engel (1999). "The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 8: 165–196.
  2. "Taxonomy browser (Apis mellifera caucasica)". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  3. Corso, Molly (2013-04-12). "Georgia Offers a Super Bee to Help Ailing American Bees | Eurasianet". eurasianet.org. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  4. Jansen, Suze (2012-04-19). "Grayanotoxin Poisoning: 'Mad Honey Disease' and Beyond| Cardiovascular Toxicology". Cardiovascular Toxicology. 12 (3): 208–15. doi:10.1007/s12012-012-9162-2. PMC 3404272. PMID 22528814.
  5. Suchail, Severine (1999-12-10). "CHARACTERISTICS OF IMIDACLOPRID TOXICITY IN TWO APIS MELLIFERA SUBSPECIES| Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry". doi:10.1002/etc.5620190726. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Status of breeding practices and genetic diversity in domestic U.S. honey bees
  7. "Caucasian (Georgian) Queen Bees For Sale | Oldest honey in the world! - GoldBee". goldenbee.ge. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  8. Sunday Mirror June 1, 1969
  9. "ქართული ფუტკრის ამბავი". National Geographic (in Georgian). 2017-12-01. Archived from the original on 2018-08-05.
  10. "APIMONDIA International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations". Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2018-05-10.


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