Steve Davis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Does anyone know of an internet source of pictures showing Black Bee,
>mellifera mellifera apis?  I have accessed web pages in European countries
>where I believe this bee is still present but the pictures look much like
>the dark Italian bees.
 
Steve, I don't have good pictures, but the black bee (mellifera mellifera)
is still abundant on many islands in the South Pacific.  The Europeans
brought them to the islands a few centuries ago, and only in this century
have some of the populations been mixed or replaced with better bees.
 
I worked with the black bee in the Fiji Islands in the mid-1980's, and found
it to be a nasty, defensive bee.  The bees run all over the combs when
smoked.  The queens will even run out of the brood nest, making it difficult
to requeen.  Their colonies are smaller and less productive than the
Italian.  We worked hard to introduce Italian bees to my area.
 
-John
 
John Caldeira                [log in to unmask]
Dallas, Texas, USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~jcaldeira/beekeeping/