APICULTURE

Species

There are four species of honeybees in India. They are:

Rock bee (Apis dorsata): They are giant bees found all over India in sub-mountainous regions up to an altitude of 2700 m. They build single comb nests with an area up to 1 m2 or more. They are good honey gathers with an average yield of 50-80 kg per colony.

Little bee (Apis florea): They are the smallest of the true honeybees found in plains of India up to the altitude of 500 m. They build single vertical combs. They are poor honey yielders and yield about 200-900 g of honey per colony.

Indian bee (Apis cerana indica): They are the domesticated species, which construct multiple parallel combs with an average honey yield of 6-8 kg per colony per year.

European bee [Italian bee] (Apis mellifera): They are also similar in habits to Indian bees, which build parallel combs. They are bigger than all other honeybees except Apis dorsata. The average production per colony is 25-40 kg.

Stingless bee (Trigona iridipennis): In addition to the above, another species is also present in Kerala known as stingless bees. They are not truly stingless, but sting is poorly developed. They make nests in the ground, hollows of trees, bamboo, rocks or cracks of walls. Honey and brood cells are separate in the nest. They are efficient pollinators. They yield 300-400 g of honey per year.

Last updated: 21-3-2007