Bees

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Strictly speaking, bees are insects of the family Apidae which incluedes the honeybees (some Apis spp.) and stingless bees. In this article, we discuss the entire superfamily Apoidea, which includes 9 families of bees and bee-like insects.

All members of Apoidea are adapted to collect nectar and pollen from flowers. The nectar is regurgitated and made into honey, which the adults themselves eat and feed to the larvae (pollen supplies protein and honey carbohydrates). These insects display the full range from completely social to completely solitary.

Honeybees are social insects with important agricultural applications. In addition to acting as pollinators for a large variety of flowering plants, they produce a harvestable surplus of honey, a nutritious foodstuff which has been used since ancient times for its antibacterial and antifungal properties. Many of the social stingless bees are also used for these purposes.

Criteria for selecting bees for a planetary colony

Special emphasis will need to be placed on identifying those varieties which have a good compromise between the following goals:

• Efficient pollinator
  • Targets a broad spectrum of flowers
• Ease of keeping
  • Low aggression or stingless
  • Ability to harvest honey (if applicable) without destroying hives
  • Simple habitat requirements
• Ability to survive a long journey in microgravity
• Resistance to disease
• Low space requirements
• High honey production (low priority)

Hazards

• Honeybees are sensitive to certain odours, including that of mowed grass, pulled weeds, harvested carrots and especially manure and compost. They may become irritable and prone to sting under such influences.

The stingless bees are less dangerous, but despite the common name some species are capable of stinging.

Varieties of bee

• Family Apidae
  • Honeybees (Apis spp.) Note that A. dorsata is also sometimes referred to as the Eastern honeybee and there is some confusion as to how many distinct species the honeybees of East Asia should be divided into.
    • The Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, is quite possibly the most studied of all insects. It has the following subspecies of interest:
      • The Italian honeybee, Apis mellifera lingustica, is large with golden yellow stripes and a very mild temper. It is the honeybee most often kept in the USA.
      • The Carniolan honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica, please describe . It is the second most widely kept bee in the USA.
      • The Caucasian honeybee, Apis mellifera caucasica, please describe.
      • The dark European honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera, is native to the British Isles and adapted to warmer winters and colder summers than the Carniolan, Caucasian and Italian bees. Except under such conditions, it will tend to produce less honey than those breeds.
      • The African honeybee, Apis mellifera scutellata/Apis mellifera adansonii, has a brownish yellow striped abdomen. It is aggressive relative to the European honeybees. The subspecies name A. m. adansonii appears to stem from a misclassification of what is actually A. m. scutellata.
      • The Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis, has an almost completely black abdomen. It has a reputation for aggression, even relative to the African honeybee, although Beyleveld feels that this is unwaranted. Cape honeybees workers have the ability, unique amongst all honeybee workers, to lay eggs which will fully develop into other worker bees.
    • The eastern honeybee, Apis cerana.
    • The giant honeybee, Apis dorsata
  • Meliponula spp. (sometimes known as mopani bees in South Africa) are smaller than honeybees and make their nests in the ground or in tree hollows.
  • Dactylurina spp.
  • Plebeina spp.
  • Hypotrigona spp.
  • Cleptotrigona spp.
  • Melipona spp.

Gravitational biology

(To be completed)

Open issues

• How large could a self-sustaining colony grow before the need for insect pollinators becomes critical for sufficient food production?
• Can bees be transported from Earth to Mars, alive?
• How great would the dangers to astronauts be if a colony of stinging honeybees were so transported? Or, would a stingless honeybee be suitable?