T & M Weatherhead wrote:
>
> I was wondering if we have someone on Bee-L from Brazil who could tell me when Apis mellifera was first introduced to Brazil?
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> If not someone from Brazil, is there anyone who can tell me or point me to a reference?
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> Thanks.
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> Trevor Weatherhead
> AUSTRALIATrevor, first try my book "The Immigrant Bees 1788 to 1898". I suspect
you have a copy. In it I have a reference from Eva Crane (1963, from The
Hive and the Honey Bee, Dadant & Sons) dating their introduction to 1530.
A Braziliam Nogueira-Neto in 1962 (see 'The Introduction of
beekeeping to Brazil, Biol. Agric. S.Paulo (49:5-14)) dated their arrival
to 1839. A book titled "A Naturalist in Brazil" (can't remember author or
date) gives a rough date of 1840s, also that they arrived in Chile and
Peru in 1857, quoting an author named Beck. Dr. Gerstaecker in an article
in American Bee Journal (July 1866) "Geographical Distribution of the
Honey-Bee and its varieties" gives the year as 1845. If anyone has access
to this 1862 issue I would certainly like more details. Samuel Marsden
brought bees to Australia from Rio in 1810. he left them out in the rain
and they perished! Peter Barrett (down under beekeeping historian).