Our European honeybees have been through a lot over the last 100 years in relation to animal husbandry. First it was the Tracheal Mites in England followed by Foulbrood, Nosema, Wax Moths, Varroa Mites, Hive Beetles, Pesticides, Colony Collapse Disorder, and the local zoning boards across the country. Well there appears to be a new threat on the horizon which could be the TKO for beekeeping as we know it.
In addition to Toyota s and cheap Chinese crap from Walmart, the next import into our country from that part of the world could be the Asian honeybee, Apis Cerana.
We all remember our basic biology classes in middle school when we classified animals according to the organization method often remembered by children using the phrase ” King Phillip Can Order Fresh Garden Salad.”
The honeybee’ s latin name is Apis Mellifera. Apis being the Genus type with the Species (Dorsata, Florea, Cerana, and Mellifera) underneath. Within the Species there are several races including the well known Apis Mellifera Carnica(Carniolans) and Apis Mellifera Ligustica(Italians).
Apis Cerana and Apis Mellifera are similar except for a few physical and behavioral traits. The Asian honeybee is about 2/3 the size of our honeybees and are better adapted to working within warmer climates. In addition, the Asian honeybee’s build smaller colonies and can swarm up to 5-6 times per year compared to the Western honeybee’s average swarming rate of 1-2 times per year. The honey yield of each species is also different with the Asian honeybee producing far less poundage, making it almost useless as a replacement for the Apis Mellifera variety.
The primary difference between Apis Cerana and Apis Mellifera is Apis Cerana’s ability to out compete our European stock in harvesting nectar and pollen. Worse, they seem to show a propensity for robbing the food pantries of Apis Mellifera honeybee colonies. Areas that have established European stock are seeing their colonies wiped out by the overly industrious Apis Cerana. Combined with their ability to throw out swarms like no other, their populations will likely be established and spread to outlying areas from the original colony rather quickly. Apis Mellifera does not seem to be able to handle this in areas where they are in competition with Apis Cerena.
Although Apis Cerena is suited best for warmer climates they have started to become established in areas that have a drop in temperature to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This encompasses most of the southern United States.
Currently, Apis Cerena has been seen in the northern tip of Australia and the national government seems to be in a position to prevent their expansion.
However, what does this mean for the U.S. As of today many packaged bees are coming in off of airplanes from down under. What could happen if, by accident of course, some of those bees made it on the airplane and were shipped to the states and became established? The beekeeping industry would be laid flat on the mat with a one two punch from the mites and possibly the hyper efficient Apis Cerena.
How to prevent this? This is a good question. Because we are trading partners with Australia via the import of their honeybees it might make for bad relations if we suddenly stopped their importation. Remember the stink from China that arose when dog food, manufactured in their factories, was found to contain melamine? At the time, this issue was seen all over the news because it effected everyone with a pet.
Unfortunately the honeybee industry would not merit this world wide attention because frankly, we are considered small potatoes in a universe of potatoes. I imagine the issue over importation of a few “small bees”, as seen by the general public, would fall short for the go ahead of a trade embargo of Australian bees. Not having ever imported honeybees from Australia I have to wonder why we even need to import them from overseas. Are there not enough queen breeders producing hygienic honeybees within our own borders?
Our founding fathers would not have wanted us to become dependent on foreign powers for our source of honeybees. Once we place our dependence on others for our own well being and food security we begin down the road of tyranny.
I can hear “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in the background.
But really, by local. It’s more environmentally friendly and you support your neighbor’s hard work.
