Editing Italian bee

{{Short description|Subspecies of honey bee}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Subspeciesbox
| name = Italian bee<br>''Apis mellifera ligustica''
| image = Honeybee-27527-1.jpg
| genus = Apis
| species = mellifera
| subspecies = ligustica
| authority = [[Maximilian Spinola|Spinola]], 1806
}}
The '''Italian bee''' or '''Italian Honey bee''' ('''''Apis mellifera ligustica''''') is a [[subspecies]] of the [[western honey bee]] (''Apis mellifera'').

==Origin==
The Italian honey bee is endemic to the continental part of Italy, south of the [[Alps]], and north of [[Sicily]], where it survived the [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-294x.2000.00945.x/full | doi=10.1046/j.1365-294x.2000.00945.x | title=Hybrid origins of honeybees from Italy ( ''Apis mellifera ligustica'' ) and Sicily ( ''A. M. Sicula'' ) | date=2000 | last1=Franck | first1=P. | last2=Garnery | first2=L. | last3=Celebrano | first3=G. | last4=Solignac | first4=M. | last5=Cornuet | first5=J.-M. | journal=Molecular Ecology | volume=9 | issue=7 | pages=907–921 | pmid=10886654 | bibcode=2000MolEc...9..907F | url-access=subscription }}</ref> On Sicily the subspecies is ''Apis mellifera siciliana''.
It is likely the most commercially distributed of all [[honey bee]]s, and has proven adaptable to most [[climate]]s from [[subtropical]] to cool temperate, but it is less successful in humid [[tropical]] regions. Italian bees that originate from the [[Liguria]]n alps in northern Italy are often referred to as the Ligurian bee, which is claimed only survives on [[Kangaroo Island]].{{Citation Needed|date=July 2023}}

Italian bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central [[Mediterranean]], are less able to cope with the "hard" winters and cool, wet springs of more northern [[latitude]]s.{{Citation Needed|date=July 2023}} They do not form such tight [[winter cluster]]s. More food has to be consumed to compensate for the greater heat loss from the loose cluster. The tendency to raise broods late in autumn also increases food consumption. Noted beekeeper [[Thomas White Woodbury]] first introduced the Italian bee to Britain in 1859, and regarded it as vastly superior to the Old British Black bee (''[[apis mellifera mellifera|A. m. mellifera]]'').

==Anatomy==
* {{Anchor|Cordovan (bee)}}Color: Abdomen has brown and yellow bands. Among different strains of Italian bees, there are three different colors: Leather; bright yellow (golden); and very pale yellow (Cordovan).
* Size: Their bodies are smaller and their overhairs are shorter than those of the darker honeybee races.
* Tongue length: 6.3 to 6.6&nbsp;mm
* Mean [[cubital index]]: 2.2 to 2.5

==Characteristics==
[[Image:Bees bearding.JPG|thumbnail|right|Italian honey bees [[bearding]] outside the [[beehive (beekeeping)|hive]] entrance]]
[[File:Swarm of Italian bees 2004.jpg|thumb|Italian honey bees swarming]]
[[File:Ligustica italian bee with pollen.jpg|thumb|Italian honey bee carrying pollen from flowers]]
[[File:Festooning Italian honeybees.jpg|thumb|Italian honey bees festooning between two Langstroth hive frames]]

[[Brother Adam]], a bee breeder and developer of the [[Buckfast bee]], characterized the Italian bee in his book ''Breeding the Honeybee'':
{{blockquote|text=From the commercial and breeding point of view the value of the Ligustica lies in a happy synthesis of a great number of good characteristics. Among these we must mention industry, gentleness, fertility, reluctance to swarm, zeal for building comb, white honey-cappings, a willingness to enter supers, cleanliness, resistance to disease, and the tendency to collect flower honey rather than honey dew. The last-named trait is of value only in countries where the colour of the honey determines the price. The Ligustica has shown that she is able to produce good crops from the red clover. In one other characteristic has the Ligustica proved exceptional and that is in her resistance to Acarine. This is especially true of the dark, leather-coloured variety, whereas the golden strains are highly susceptible to Acarine. |sign=Brother Adam|source="Breeding the Honeybee" (Northern Bee Books: Mytholmroyd, 1987), pp. 96–98.}}

While the Italian bee has many strong points, among the ''A.m. ligustica'' it has a large number of weak points:

{{blockquote|text=The Ligustica has her drawbacks, and these are serious. She lacks vitality and is inclined to excessive brood rearing. These two faults are the root cause of her other disadvantages. She has too a tendency to drift which is caused by a poor sense of orientation and this can prove a drawback where colonies are set out in rows facing in one direction as is the common practice in apiaries almost world-wide{{nbsp}}...

Curiously enough, all the above mentioned faults of the Ligustica appear in greatly emphasised form in the very light coloured strains, with an additional one, an unusually high consumption of stores. In European countries such strains have proved highly unsatisfactory as they tend to turn every drop of honey into brood. These light coloured varieties are likewise as already stated unusually susceptible to Acarine. The reason for this is not known in spite of all the work spent on trying to find it. It is all the more surprising when we consider that the dark, leather-coloured Ligustica has over a period of more than 60 years proved to be one of the most resistant to Acarine.

The almost exclusive concentration of these light-coloured Italian strains in North America seems to be due to the fact that in sub-tropical Southern and Western States the large queen-rearing centres are concerned mainly with the sale of bees, where honey production plays a secondary role. Hence they need a bee which is given to brood rearing to an extreme degree, something which in entirely different climatic conditions constitutes a serious drawback. |sign=Brother Adam|source="Breeding the Honeybee" (Northern Bee Books: Mytholmroyd, 1987), pp. 97–98.}}

===Strengths===
*shows strong disposition to breeding and very prolific<ref>Tarpy, David R.; Lee, Jeffrey [http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/apiculture/PDF%20files/2.16.pdf A comparison of Russian and Italian Honey bees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629132042/http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/apiculture/PDF%20files/2.16.pdf |date=29 June 2010 }} [North Carolina State University] Extension Service</ref>
*cleanliness/excellent housekeeper (which some scientists think might be a factor in disease resistance)
*uses little propolis
*excellent foragers
*superb comb builder (writing in Switzerland in 1862, H. C. Hermann stated the comb of an Italian bee-cell occupied only 15 cells for every 16 of the common black bee, and the cubic content was larger by 30%)
*covers the [[honey]] with brilliant white cappings
*shows lower swarming tendency than other [[Western honey bee]] races
*for areas with continuous nectar flow and favorable weather throughout the summer
*industry
*gentleness
*a willingness to enter supers
*tendency to collect flower honey rather than honey dew (of value only in countries where the colour of the honey determines the price)<ref name="auto">Brother Adam, "Breeding the Honeybee" (Northern Bee Books: Mytholmroyd, 1987), pp. 96–98.</ref>

===Weaknesses===
*lacks vitality
*inclined to excessive brood rearing
*susceptibility to disease
*high consumption of stores<ref name="auto"/>
*more prone to drifting and [[robbing]] than the other principal races of Europe.
*the strong brood rearing disposition often results in large food consumption in late winter or early spring that causes spring dwindling and hence slow or tardy spring development
*brood rearing starts late and lasts long into late summer or autumn, irrespective of nectar flow
*tends to forage over shorter distances than either ''[[Apis mellifera carnica|carnica]]'' or ''mellifera'', and may therefore be less effective in poorer nectar flows
*for cool maritime regions
*for areas with strong spring flow
*for areas with periods of dearth of nectar in the summer

==Foraging behavior==

''A. m. ligustica'' are more concerned with nectar processing behaviors, honey storage, and adult maintenance over brood expansion when compared to the African honey bee, [[African bee|''A. m. scutellata'']].<ref name="Fewell and Bertram, 2002">{{cite journal|last=Fewell|first=Jennifer H.|author2=Susan M. Bertram|title=Evidence for genetic variation in worker task performance by African and European honeybees|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|year=2002|volume=52|issue=4|pages=318–25|doi=10.1007/s00265-002-0501-3|bibcode=2002BEcoS..52..318F |s2cid=22128779}}</ref>

==Selective breeding==
Breeders of Italian bees, as well as other honey bee subspecies, look for certain beneficial characteristics. Depending on the breeding goal, one or more of the following characteristics may be emphasized:

#Gentleness or excitability
#Resistance to various diseases including tracheal mite and ''Varroa'' mite
#Early spring buildup in population
#Wintering ability
#Tendency to limited swarming
#Ability to ripen honey rapidly
#Honeycomb cappings are white
#Minimal use of propolis
#Availability and queen cost
#Color
Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20050324170003/http://www.tnbeekeepers.org/pubs/The%20Best%20Bee.pdf] George Imrie's pink pages

==Worldwide distribution==
*1853 introduced to Germany
*1854 introduced into the [[Poland]] by Dr. [[Jan Dzierżon]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15529680|title=14 Aug 1914 - BEE CULTURE|pages=6|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald (Nsw : 1842–1954)|access-date=20 August 2015|date=1914-08-14}}</ref>
*1859 introduced into the United Kingdom
*1859 introduced to the United States
*1862 introduced to Australia, on 9 December into Victoria aboard the steam ship [[Alhambra (1855)|''Alhambra'']] There is strong evidence that the subsequent Italian virgin queens hybridised with the English 'black' bee previously imported (source: Barrett, P. "The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898", Vol. IV). Wilhelm Abram brought several queens from Italy to Sydney in December 1880 but it's probable they reached New South Wales through other hands earlier on.
*1866 introduced to [[Russian Empire]]
*1877 introduced to Japan
*1880 introduced to New Zealand
*1884 (Easter) introduced to [[Kangaroo Island]] in South Australia, sourced from Brisbane where they were previously imported in 1880 from Italy by Chas. Fullwood. Jas. Carroll received a hive of Italian bees in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1877 when Angus Mackay accompanied a hive aboard the City of New York, packaged by Harbison in California. After a week's stopover in Sydney, the bees arrived in Brisbane.<ref>Barrett, P. "The Immigrant Bees, 1788 to 1898", Vols. I-III)</ref> The government of the colony of South Australia passed legislation in 1885 intended to "encourage the culture of Ligurian Bees on Kangaroo Island."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ligurian Bees Act (No 342 of 48 and 49 Vic, 1885) |url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/sa/num_act/lba342o48a49v1885237/}}</ref> Honey from Kangaroo Island is marketed (in 2014) as being from the only pure Ligurian bees in the world.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Commons category|Apis mellifera ligustica}}
* [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13236341 The Ligurian or Italian Alp-Bee] ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 30 Oct 1862
* [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15529680 Bee Culture] ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 14 Aug 1914
* [http://www.bch.umontreal.ca/ogmp/projects/other/all_list.html bch.umontreal.ca] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301055858/http://www.bch.umontreal.ca/ogmp/projects/other/all_list.html |date=1 March 2012 }} list of organisms with sequenced genome [Retrieved 2011-12-22]

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{{Taxonbar|from=Q961761}}

[[Category:Insects of Italy]]
[[Category:Endemic fauna of Italy]]
[[Category:Western honey bee breeds]]
[[Category:Subspecies]]