''Apis mellifera adami'' is a
western honey bee
The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for 'bee', and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', ...
subspecies, endemic to the island of
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
in the eastern Mediterranean.
Taxonomy
The ''Apis mellifera adami'' was classified by
Ruttner 1975 and named by him after
Brother Adam
Karl Kehrle OSB OBE (3 August 1898, Mittelbiberach, Germany – 1 September 1996, Buckfast, Devonshire, England, UK), known as Brother Adam, was a Benedictine monk, beekeeper, and an authority on bee breeding, developer of the Buckf ...
.
Research in 2003 concluded that "the honey bee from Crete seems to be similar to the honey bee populations from other areas of Greece" while yet acknowledging that their genetic structures had most likely been changed over the past two decades due to migratory beekeeping and commercial breeding, concluding that there seemed to be no pure populations of ''A. m. adami'' left on the island.
Beekeeping
Western Cretan beehives are constructed of
terracotta
Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
, wood and
wicker
Wicker is a method of weaving used to make products such as furniture and baskets, as well as a descriptor to classify such products. It is the oldest furniture making method known to history, dating as far back as . Wicker was first documented ...
. On the east of the island the hives are always ceramic.
[L.Nixo]
sphakia.classics.ox.ac.uk (Oxford University website)
''The Sphakia survey'' etrieved 2011-12-20cited also: Baumann, Hellmut 1993. Greek Wild Flowers, London: Herbert.
See also
*
Bee domestication and Beekeeping
References
Friedrich Ruttner (1975). Die Kretische Biene, Apis mellifica adami
he Cretan bee Deutsche Allgemeine Imkerzeitung, 9 (10), pp. 271–272.
External links
*A.Gönülşe
THE MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY FEATURE EXTRACTION OF HONEYBEE FOREWINGS AND HINDLEGS USING IMAGE PROCESSING AND ACTIVE CONTOURS Middle East Technical University2004
etrieved 2011-12-20thesis states that ''A.m.adamii'' populate Cyprus
*
{{Apidae-stub
mellifera adami
Western honey bee breeds