[Trigger warning: contains potentially distressing material. Reader discretion advised]

The Camica bee is described by one authority as a greyish black version of the yellow Italian bee. Except for colour and the grey pubescence, the Camica. bee approximates to the Italian more closely than any other race. However, the true Carnica bee is, without any doubt, a distinctive subspecies of Apis mellifera. But the range of variation, between the various strains, is probably greater than in any other race we know. 

In my first report I gave a fairly comprehensive outline of the general characteristics of the Carnica bee. That description also holds good for the strains found in Carniola itself. There are undoubtedly some variations ; indeed the wide variation between one strain and another is one of the most marked features of the race. We have had some strains which could hardly have been surpassed for uniformity in external characteristics, but which proved valueless in practice.  

Too much stress is often placed on uniformity, particularly in the Carniolan. There is a factor for yellow in its genetic make-up, which often manifests itself as a seasonal variation. The breeder of one of the best strains assured me that his bees will not infrequently show some yellow coloration on the first dorsal segments in the early part of the summer, but that these markings will completely vanish in subsequent generations raised at a lower temperature in the autumn. 

Actually the best strains (judged by performance) I have so far come across are known to manifest a fair amount of yellow. In every race, variations in colour and markings are shown in the most startling manner in the queens, and this is especially true of Carniolans. There is a danger that by placing too much emphasis on external uniformity, we may lose the much more important objective of performance. 

The world-wide fame of the Italian bee is partly based on the success achieved with the first imports made nearly a hundred years ago. These bees came from the Ligurian Alps - hence the name Ligurian bee. Our findings indicate that the genuine leather-coloured Italian, which embodies all the desirable qualities which have made the Italian so popular, is only found in the Ligurian Alps, in the mountainous region between La Spezia and Genoa. 

There are three distinct varieties of the Italian bee: the leather coloured variety; the bright yellow kind, as usually supplied by the commercial breeders; and a very pale lemon-coloured type, not often seen. The so-called Golden Italian is not a true Italian bee at all. It is an outcome of a cross between the Italian and a black race, as our cross-breeding experiments have clearly demonstrated.    

— Brother Adam, In Search of the Best Strains of Bee

¶  

On Kangaroo Island (KI), a ‘sanctuary’ was created for the Ligurian bee subspecies A. mellifera ligustica. The Ligurian Bee Act was enacted in 1885 on the basis of perceived genetic purity and isolation of KI honeybee populations, and was updated in 1931 and 1997. This legislation and the apparent isolation of KI bees from mainland bees in the time since its enactment have led to the popular assertion that KI honeybee populations represent the last ‘pure’ genetic population of A. mellifera ligustica. 

However, historical accounts of bee introductions to KI show that A. mellifera mellifera-like bees were present on KI prior to the introduction of A. mellifera ligustica, and that multiple A. mellifera ligustica introductions to KI occurred using bees of mixed heritage. Indeed, DNA sequence analyses of KI honeybees clearly indicat they are in fact hybrids and share more similarity with the A. mellifera mellifera subspecies. Therefore, the relevant state legislation should be updated to remove any mention of Ligurian or other honeybee strains.   

Overall, these data suggest that KI bees are ligustica/ mellifera hybrids and that the DNA regions tested are statistically significantly closer to the mellifera subspecies. Despite this clear (and now long-standing) evidence of hybridisation of KI bees, claims about the ‘pure Ligurian bees’ on KI persist in legislation and continue to be made in popular circles to this day based on false information.

— Richard V Glatz, Curious case of the Kangaroo Island honeybee sanctuary

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