Why China’s Asian honeybees are losing out to their Western counterparts
European worker bees take their queen’s messages more seriously and are more willing to execute her orders, scientists say
Asiatic honeybee colonies are more prone to disintegration than European honeybee ones because the workers find their queens less attractive, a Sino-American research team has discovered.
For over a century, Asiatic honeybees (Apis cerana) have been steadily pushed aside by the European species (Apis mellifera), which were introduced to China by beekeepers because the male drone is almost twice as big and the female workers are more focused on their job and produce more honey, which is also sweeter.
However, the European species also carries a number of deadly, contagious diseases that can devastate colonies.
The researchers estimated that up to 80 per cent of China’s native honeybee population has been lost since the first European bee farm in the country was established in the late 19th century.
Many Asiatic subspecies across the region are now close to extinction, and that’s a cause for concern as the flowers of many Asian plants are not recognised by European honeybee pollinators.