NZBF: Bee breeds, Identification

[smokey the bear]

I think I had some robbing going on today, with a large number of bees hovering outside the entrance and loads of wrestling and fighting on the landing board. There were different colour bees trying to get in the hive. They had a much darker abdomin and were almost black & white. I managed to get a picture if comeone can tell what type of bee this is. Regards.

 

[tristan]

Carniolan, or mixture of.
keep in mind that because a bee hive is a mixed up extended family, your hive can have them too.

 

[smokey the bear]

OK Thanks Tristan. I'm pretty sure this is a marauder.

 

[Wknz]

They certainly come in a mixture of shapes and sizes. That's quite a long body.
I noticed an odd one when putting my wets back in the hive. Different shapes body and colour to my stripy girls.


Also a Santa claus bee. .covered in white pollen.

 

[Mummzie]

I think you will find its the same breed of bee- most of New Zealand has Italian (Apis Mellifera Ligustica) or Carniolan (Apis Mellifera carnica) or a mix of the two.
In your first photo you are seeing either a very old bee- note the lack of hairs, and commonly referred to as a robber bee- or there could be paralysis virus in that one.
Hopefully one of the wiser heads will now correct me........

Also bear in mind that the hive is made up of half sisters. When the queen mates, the sperm is stored and it tends to be in layers in the spermatheca- so you will get batches of the bees from one drone father. You might find over the season your 'stripy girls" are quite different to what you had 6 weeks ago.