The 2014 SBA/COLOSS survey of beekeepers - Part 2

摘要

Bee races being kept: Only 9 of the 177 beekeepers who responded failed to answer the question about what race of bees they were keeping. Of those who answered, 46% said they were keeping "local bees of no named type" and 15% said they did not know, so only about 40% of those who answered claimed to be keeping a named race. Of those answering, 23% said they were keeping Apis mellifera mellifera, the Northern European Dark Bee, and 10% the Buckfast strain. The Italian race A. mellifera ligustica and the Carniolan race A. mellifera carnica were each claimed by 3% of those responding. The reasons given for naming a specific race were, in almost 61% of cases, "information given by the supplier of the bees" and in 31% of cases "the general appearance ofthe bees". Wing morphometry was the basis of 8% of claims but no DNA analysis was reported. It is possible that many of the claimed "black bee" and other racial claims, are in fact for hybridised bees.