Portrait of the Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis

Abstract

The honeybees of southern Africa were assessed for expression of the trait, diploid eggs laid by workers, worker ovariole number, spermatheca size, worker size and allozymes of malate dehydrogenase. A.m.capensis is readily defined in terms of the first two of these traits and may further be separated from A.m.scutellata by a suite of biological characteristics associated with laying worker development and behaviour, queenless cell building, foraging, thermoregulation and docility. The Cape honeybee occurs in the fynbos biome along the SW and S coasts of South Africa extending into the interior as far as the mountains bordering on the Klein Karoo. From here it hybridizes with A.m. scutellata. -from Authors