In Issue 25

Inside information

AN AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST has recently estimated that there might be as many as 50 million species of insect on earth! About 750,000 of them are known species, and 25,000 are bees. The honey bees exploited by man are of very few species, currently numbered at seven: these are described on pages 8 and 9.

Two of these honey bee species have now been over-exploited. Apis cerana (the asian hive bee) faces further extinction in Himalayan countries where it is over-stressed by introduced diseases as well as destruction of its habitat. Beekeeping with the most widely distributed honey bee, Apis mellifera also becomes less easy in countries where beekeepers have to contend with introduced diseases or races of bees with inappropriate character.

Inevitably other species are being assessed for their potential to meet honey and pollination requirements. This renewed interest in stingless bees and other species was evident at recent meetings in the Caribbean (page 4 and 5) and Malaysia (page 14).

Meanwhile in Honduras, “bee-havers” continue to harmoniously harvest honey from stingless bees using methods handed down, apparently with little beekeeping or development, from Mayan civilisation Chad Poovey describes this on pages 6 and 7.

We have to hope that while eagerness for biodiversity encourages us to look at other species, our looking does not lead to their over-exploitation. While this might not necessarily lead directly to extinction, the introduction of diseases and other problems makes the beekeepers’ craft more difficult and less economic.