The Star of Beekeeping

Beekeeping has been utilized by various individuals and groups in order to generate income and livelihood. It is a key element in keeping man informed about the life cycles and behavioral pattern of honey bees thus giving man a stable link with one of the rewarding creatures in his surroundings. Let's take a closer look at the star of beekeeping and how they buzz their way into a sweet life.

Honey bees are considered as a subgroup of bees that are famed for the storage and production of honey via the building and maintenance of colonial and perennial nests which are primarily made from wax. At present there are about seven noted species of the honey bee which branches down to a subspecies total of forty four. This honey-producing wonders are only a tiny portion of the approximated 20,000 identified bee species. There are other classes that make efforts in coming up with honey but only members of the genus Apis are recognized as authentic honey bees.

The present roster of honey bees can be classified into three clades which is a scientific term used to denote a single group that is linked to a common ancestor having similar descendants. Dwarf honey bees are first on the list. They are technically tagged as Apis florae and Apis andreniformis and are commonly situated in South and Southeast Asia. They are capable of building small-sized and exposed nests on trees and shrubs. The hives and swarms of these honey bees can be dealt with minimal protective devices as their stings are usually not capable of inducing injury on the skin.

Next up are opposites of the first clade because they are known as Giant honey bees. They find cliffs, high tree limbs, and in some cases buildings to be strategic places for the construction of their combs. They have been proven to give honey hunters quite a fight. Since they are regularly victims of humans that gather honey for a living they fiercely fight back with stings that can bring death to any bold intruder.

The Cavity-nesting honey bee is the third installment of the current honey bee clade. It has species that are usually located in the Southern and South Eastern areas of Asia which include the likes of Apis koschevnikovi and Apis cerana. It also has lineage in Europe via the Apis mellifera. There is a theory stating that the ancestral stock of cave-nesting honey bees was divided into the Western and Eastern troops via desertification in the Middle East and neighboring regions. This actually brought about the decline of trees and shrubs for best sites which led to the halt of the original gene flow.