Apis mellifera, the western honey bee, has many subspecies. The most recent taxonomic revision in 1999 recognized 28 subspecies[1] and three additional subspecies have been described since then (Apis mellifera pomonella in 2003, Apis mellifera simensis in 2011, and Apis mellifera sinisxinyuan in 2016; see below). Other sources recognize as many as 33 subspecies.[2]
Apis mellifera lamarckii, classified by Cockerell, 1906 (the Egyptian honey bee) found in Nile Valley of Egypt and Sudan,[1] domesticated before 2600BC.[3] This mitotype can also be identified in honey bees from California.[4]
Apis mellifera litorea, classified by Smith, 1961 (the East African coastal honey bee) found in the low elevations of east Africa.[1]
Apis mellifera ruttneri, classified by Sheppard, Arias, Grech & Meixner in 1997 (the Maltese honey bee) endemic to the Maltese islands.[1]
Apis mellifera sahariensis, classified by Baldensperger, 1932 (the Saharan honey bee) found in northwestern Africa, on the southern side of the Atlas Mountains. (the existence of this subspecies has previously been questioned, possibly having been misidentified with the A. m. intermissa).[1]
Apis mellifera scutellata, classified by Lepeletier, 1836 (the East African lowland honey bee) found in central and east Africa; also as hybridized populations in South America, Central America and the southern USA. In an effort to address concerns by Brazilian beekeepers and to increase honey production in Brazil, Warwick Kerr, a Brazilian geneticist, was asked by Brazilian federal and state authorities in 1956 to import several East African lowland queens from Tanzania to Piracicaba, São Paulo State in southern Brazil. Due to a mishap, some of the queens escaped. The East African lowland queens' virgin daughters mated with local European honey bee drones and produced what is now known as the Africanized honey bee in South and North America. The intense struggle for survival of western honey bees in Sub-Saharan Africa is given as the reason that this subspecies is proactive in defending the hive and also more likely to abandon an existing hive and abscond to a more secure location. They direct more of their energies to defensive behaviors and less of their energies to honey storage. East African lowland honey bees are leather-colored and difficult to distinguish by eye from the darker strains of the Italian honey bee.[5]
Apis mellifera caucasia, classified by Pollmann, 1889 (the Caucasian honey bee) found in the central Caucasus and towards the Turkish Black Sea coast.[1]
Apis mellifera meda, classified by Skorikov, 1929 (the Median honey bee), more common in Iran and Iraq, but its range extends into south eastern Turkey and northern Syria.[1]
Apis mellifera mellifera, classified by Linnaeus, 1758 (the European dark bee) originating in central Asia and migrating throughout Europe after the last ice age, having the largest geographic range of all European honey bees. It was domesticated in Europe and imported into Britain during Roman times and Ireland during Christian times. Hives were later exported to North America in the colonial era in 1622 where they were referred to as the English Fly by the Native American Indians.[9] In 2014-2017 a European wide survey was conducted with 621 colonies, which included the various subspecies kept by beekeepers, it found that the A. m. mellifera was the most aggressive, had the highest swarming tendency and the lowest hygienic behaviour - a trait closely linked with Varroa sensitive hygiene.[10]
Apis mellifera sinisxinyuan, classified by C.Chen, Z.Liu, Q.Pan, X.Chen, H.Wang, H.Guo, S.Liu, H.Lu, S.Tian, R.Li and W.Shi, 2016 (the Xinyuan honey bee) discovered in 2016 in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, this subspecies has a range that is the farthest east known for the species.[12]
Apis mellifera syriaca, classified by Skorikov, 1929 (the Syrian honey bee) found between Turkey and Egypt.[7]
Apis mellifera artemisia, classified by Engel, 1999 (the Russian steppe honey bee) located in north central Ukraine (the existence of this subspecies has recently been questioned, possibly having been misidentified).[1]
Apis mellifera carnica, classified by Pollmann, 1879 (common name the Carniolan honey bee after the Carniola region of Slovenia), originating from the Carpathian Plain, it now dominates the central / western Balkans, Austria, Germany and much of western Poland - popular with beekeepers due to its extreme gentleness. In 2014-2017 a European wide survey was conducted with 621 colonies, which included the various subspecies kept by beekeepers, it found that the A. m. carnica was the most docile, had the lowest swarming tendency and the highest hygienic behaviour - a trait closely linked with Varroa sensitive hygiene.[10]
Apis mellifera ligustica, classified by Spinola, 1806 (the Italian honey bee) originating from the Italian mainland, south of the Alps, it is a commonly kept subspecies for commercial beekeeping in much of the world.
Apis mellifera sossimai, classified by Engel, 1999 (the Ukrainian honey bee) located in central Ukraine (not Crimea) and towards the northern Caucasus (the existence of this subspecies has recently been questioned, possibly having been misidentified).[1]
Apis mellifera taurica, classified by Alpatov, 1935 (the Crimean honey bee) located in Crimea (the existence of this subspecies has recently been questioned, possibly having been misidentified).[7]
