Letters to the Editor

Apis florea in Sudan

I have been interested to hear of the introduction to Khartoum of Apis florea (see Newsletter No 8, March 1986) but also very concerned. For the following reasons I think its presence may present problems:

1. There is the risk that A. florea may have brought with it diseases (viruses, bacteria, even mites) to which Apis mellifera may be susceptible.

2. Though A. florea may exploit the flora at different times of day from A. mellifera and to some extent a different range of plant species, there will inevitably be an overlap and degree of competition for forage that can only be detrimental to A. mellifera and its honey yields, and to other native pollinators.

3. Most important, beekeeping development in Africa has enough problems with out the introduction of another species of honeybee which is difficult to manage and produces only very small quantities of honey. The widespread presence of A. florea would have to be acknowledged in beekeeping programs and this would only serve to confuse people and detract from the development of beekeeping with A. mellifera.

I am not surprised at the interest that has arisen in this incident and how the A. florea made their journey but I am surprised that no one has commented on whether it is a good or a bad thing. A colony of A. florea was introduced to Dhofar (southern Oman) (in 1980?; reported to me by Jan Karpowicz) from northern Oman, in a packing case and thus had survived a 1 000km road journey across the desert. I advocated that this colony was destroyed, particularly for reasons (2) and (3) above, and fortunately an Omani destroyed it on his own initiative to get the honey, so the ‘‘problem"’ was solved! I do not expect the ‘‘problem’’ of A. florea in Africa would be anywhere near as severe as the problem of A. mellifera (from Africa) being introduced to South America (but who would have predicted the severity of that problem?). Nevertheless it is highly likely that A. florea will spread over time into other parts of Sudan and Africa und I would therefore strongly recommend that efforts are made to destroy the colonies that are now spreading in Khartoum.

Unintentional plant and animal introductions on the whole have little to commend them and it would be far better if A. florea is ever needed in Africa that it is introduced on a controlled basis from genetic stock that has been selected for the purpose.

Dr Robert Whitcombe, Planning Committee for Development and Environment in the Southern Region, Oman.