Animals (Oct 2022)

A Spotlight on the Egyptian Honeybee (<i>Apis mellifera lamarckii</i>)

  • Hesham R. El-Seedi,
  • Aida A. Abd El-Wahed,
  • Chao Zhao,
  • Aamer Saeed,
  • Xiaobo Zou,
  • Zhiming Guo,
  • Ahmed G. Hegazi,
  • Awad A. Shehata,
  • Haged H. R. El-Seedi,
  • Ahmed F. Algethami,
  • Yahya Al Naggar,
  • Neveen F. Agamy,
  • Mostafa E. Rateb,
  • Mohamed F. A. Ramadan,
  • Shaden A. M. Khalifa,
  • Kai Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12202749
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 20
p. 2749

Abstract

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Egypt has an ongoing long history with beekeeping, which started with the ancient Egyptians making various reliefs and inscriptions of beekeeping on their tombs and temples. The Egyptian honeybee (Apis mellifera lamarckii) is an authentic Egyptian honeybee subspecies utilized in apiculture. A. m. lamarckii is a distinct honeybee subspecies that has a particular body color, size, and high levels of hygienic behavior. Additionally, it has distinctive characteristics; including the presence of the half-queens, an excessive number of swarm cells, high adaptability to climatic conditions, good resistance to specific bee diseases, including the Varro disorder, and continuous breeding during the whole year despite low productivity, using very little propolis, and tending to abscond readily. This review discusses the history of beekeeping in Egypt and its current situation in addition to its morphology, genetic analysis, and distinctive characters, and the defensive behaviors of native A. m. lamarckii subspecies.

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