''Apis mellifera intermissa'' is an African
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of the
western honey bee.
Description
Previously classified as ''A. m.intermissa v. Buttel-Reepen'' a reviewed classification of genus instead states the sub-species as ''A. m. intermissa v. Maa'' (''M. S. Engel'' 1999) Found in the south of Spain
[D. R. Smith, M. F. Palopoli, B. R. Taylor, L. Garnery, J.-M. Cornuet, M. Solignac, W. M. Brown ] and the (''
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
'') north of the Sahara desert in Africa, ranging from the east (Libya) to the west (Morocco), and is adapted to dry climates.
This bee has a black-brown and orange striated abdomen and black-brown thorax with orange fur.
Taxonomy
In a comparative study of five subspecies and ''A. m. iberica'' (Smith, Palopoli, Taylor, Garnery, Cornuet, Solignac, Brown 1991) cleavage maps obtained through the use of
restriction enzyme
A restriction enzyme, restriction endonuclease, REase, ENase or'' restrictase '' is an enzyme that cleaves DNA into fragments at or near specific recognition sites within molecules known as restriction sites. Restriction enzymes are one class o ...
s
showed that the Spanish honey bee contains
mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) similar to ''intermissa'' and also ''mellifera''.
Additionally, ''A. m. intermissa'' belongs to a group shown by experiment to have similar mtDNA, this including ''monticola'', ''scuttelata'', ''adansonii'' and ''capensis''
In Spanish honey bee populations, mtDNA haplotypes of African bee strains were found to be frequently present (Smith 1991, Garnery ''et al'' 1995) (Cornuet ''et al'' 1975, 1978, 1982, 1988; Ruttner 1988; Cornuet and Fresnaye 1989; Orante-Bermejos and Garcia-Fernandez 1995; Hepburn and Radloff 1996). Migrating honey bee populations formed the original colonies of honey bees in western Europe, landing to eventually populate the continent from Africa across the
Straits of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medit ...
.
[Pierre Franck, Lionel Garnery, Michel Solignac and Jean-Marie Cornuet (1997]
JSTOR
''The Origin of West European Subspecies of Honeybees (Apis mellifera): New Insights from Microsatellite and Mitochondrial Data'' EvolutionVol. 52, No. 4 (Aug., 1998), pp. 1119-1134 (article consists of 16 pages) Published by: Society for the Study of Evolution etrieved 2011-12-22/ref>
See also
* List of ''Apis mellifera'' subspecies
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2858325
mellifera intermissa
Western honey bee breeds
Hymenoptera of Africa
Hymenoptera of Europe
Insects of North Africa