"How to Choose the Right Kind of Honey Bee"
Daily Green - USA  http://tinyurl.com/2c3hhs

Kim Flottum writes:

> By far the most common honey bee type, or Race, as they are called, are the Italians. Originally from, yes, Italy, they made their first appearance in the U.S. more than 100 years ago. Semi-tropical in nature, their life style follows that type of environmental formula and they do best where there are early, early springs, and late, or even no fall and winter breaks, typical of the southern half of that Peninsular country.

Me:

* Actually, they came from Northern Italy.

> The Ligurian bee was named for its origin in the Ligurian Alps in the days of the Roman Empire. Roman historians praised its docility and productivity. The scientific name of this species is Apis mellifera ligustica. In the early 1880's Ligurian bees were imported by the South Australian Chamber of Manufacturers. The Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island are believed to be the last remaining pure stock of this bee found anywhere in the world.  http://www.users.on.net/~hogbay/hogbay2.htm

Kim:

> The other common honey bee race is the Carniolans, or Carnies. These honey bees originated in the mountainous parts of eastern Europe, and as a result take a whole different slant on how they interact with their environment.

Me:

* The Carniolan bee is named after the Kranjska region in Slovenia,
also known as the Julian Alps.

> Slovenia has 50,000 species of fauna. Some species are unique to the area: the Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica); the Lipicanec (Lipizzaner), the white horse once bred by Habsburg royalty; the Proteus anguinus, a sightless amphibian found in karst cave waters; and a trout (Salmo marmorata) found in the Soča River.

* Actually, these two regions are only about 300 miles apart. The bees
differ rather little, aside from their color. The Italians and
Carniolans in the USA no doubt bear a slight resemblance to their
ancestors.

Kim:

>The other two races of bees ... the Caucasians and the Russians are
somewhat different yet, though not very common we'll cover those at a
later time. And of course, there are the Africans .... and you don't
want those at all.

Me:

* This sort of reflects the "brand name mind set", don't you think?
Ford, Chevy, oh yeah, and those others. Personally, I am betting on
the wild bee collectors, like Joe Waggle. Bet you never thought you'd
hear that, huh Joe? I now think that the effort to breed particular
types of bees may in fact be at the root of our problems. Nature
appears to want the honey bee to have a wide range of mixed parentage.
More anon ...

pb

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************