A bee is a bee is a bee?
Poet Gertrude Stein ("a rose is a rose is a rose") could have said that.
True, there's only one species of honey bee in the United States--Apis mellifera, the Western or European honey bee--but there are several races.
The "gold standard" is Apis mellifera ligustica, also known as the Italian honey bee, the most common bee in America. It's basically your yellow or golden bee.
But among the other popular races is Apis mellifera carnica, aka the Carniolans or "Carnies," a darker bee. It is primarily darkish gray.
We spotted both of them last weekend sharing a lavender--the blond Italian bee on one side and the darker Carniolan bee on the other.
Author Richard E. Bonney writes in his book, Beekeeping: A Practical Guide: "For the most part, they (the races) are the result of evolution in geographic isolation (Italians on the Italian peninsula, for instance) where the specific climate and vegetation influenced their development over the ages. Each race has specific traits that relate to the geographic origin of that race."
At UC Davis, bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, focuses her research on identifying, selecting and enhancing honey bee stocks that show increasing levels of resistance to pests and diseases. In the early 1980s, Cobey developed her New World Carniolans stock by back-crossing stocks collected from throughout the United States to create a more pure strain.
“Over time, it has proven very productive, winter hardy, well-tempered and more resistant to pests and disease,” says Cobey, who teaches advanced courses on queen bee rearing and queen bee insemination, drawing students from throughout the world.
Genetic diversity, the raw tools for selection, is critical “in maintaining colony fitness and resisting pests and diseases,” she notes.
No matter the races, the honey bees still race for the lavender.
And the other bee friendly plants...
The Italian and the Carniolan
Drones--remotely piloted aircraft used in reconnaissance and target attacks--are in the news, but so are the other drones--male bees.
This time of year drones are as scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth. They're not needed in the hive now--just extra mouths to feed--so their sisters are booting them up. They're basically evicted, cold and shivering, from the hive.
Drones are easy to identify: big eyes, bulky body, and lumbering movements.
It's best to be a drone in the spring. When a virgin queen goes for her maiden flight, a group of drones will mate with her in the drone congregation area. The drones die shortly after mating. If they don't mate, then they'll die before winter sets in.
As Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty says: First the sisters stop feeding their brothers so they're easier to push out.
Then, out they go.
The sisters have no pity.
Drone and worker bee
Big Eyes, Bulky Body
Close-Up
It was an unexpected visit.
UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey noticed the critter in one of the restrooms at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.
She found it several days after the massive Oct. 12 storm raced through Northern California.
The heavy rain soaked the earth, apparently forcing the critter from its habitat.
How it wound up in the restroom is anybody's guess.
What is it?
Jerusalem cricket.
Not a true cricket, though. It's an insect (genus Stenopelmatus) that feeds primarily on decaying organic material (and occasionally insects). It burrows into the soil using its highly specialized feet.
And yes, it does inflect a sometimes painful bite, as Cobey can attest.
It's not lethal though.
Cobey returned it to the Laidlaw grounds, releasing it near a stump.
She has no plans to trade her honey bees in for Jerusalem crickets.
Jerusalem Cricket
Big 'Un
Close-Up
Release
Here's a "cold case" to investigate.
Check your backyard or neighborhood park and see if a praying mantis has deposited an egg case on a tree limb, plant or fence.
Case in point: Over at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the UC Davis campus, a frequently watered potted plant attracts scores of honey bees seeking water to deliver to their hives.
It also has attracted a cunning praying mantis.
She just deposited an egg case on one of the stems, knowing that when her offspring emerge next spring there will be plenty of food for them.
Praying mantises (Tenodera sinensis) are fierce-looking, combative insects with voracious appetites. They'll eat any insect they can catch and overcome. And not just insects: they've been known to attack and kill everything from hummingbirds to mice.Call it a banty-rooster complex; nothing seems to frighten the pugnacious praying mantis.
About this time of year, the praying mantis deposits her eggs on a twig or stem or fence. The frothy secretion hardens into a shell to protect it from the elements and from predators.
Fast-forward to spring or nearly spring. When the weather warms, so will the cold case, and about 100 to 200 tiny mantises will emerge.
Hungry.
They'll be so hungry they'll even eat one another.
Can't find an egg case? Not to worry. Early next year, your local hardware store or nursery will probably have them--in the refrigerated section.
Egg Case
Prey?
What's not to love about a baby bee?
At one day old, the worker (female) bees are exquisite little creatures. Helpless, really. They can neither flee nor fight; they cannot fly and they cannot sting.
No venom. That will come later.
They're all big eyes, fluffy hair and downy softness.
As worker bees, they will live a busy life. First they wiil become house bees, serving as the builders, the architects, the guards, the royal attendants, the coolers and the heaters, the nurse maids, the nannies and the undertakers.
Then they'll turn into field bees, leaving the hive to forage for nectar, pollen, water and propolis. They'll live only four to six weeks in the peak season.
"They're worked to death," entomologists are fond of saying.
That they are.
But on Day One, they rank so high on the cuteness scale that it needs to be recalibrated.
Newborn Bee
Helpless
