Bee ID

[The Woods]

Living in Dundee area.

We acquired a swarm about 6-7 weeks ago. The hive is doing really well and is quite strong.

We noticed today that quite a few of the bees in the hive have a pronounced 'copper coloured' band on the abdomen - in some cases there was a second very thin copper band as well. The bees are quite dark but the band is very metallic looking indeed - anyone seen anything like that in the area?

[The Drone Ranger]

Living in Dundee area.

We acquired a swarm about 6-7 weeks ago. The hive is doing really well and is quite strong.

We noticed today that quite a few of the bees in the hive have a pronounced 'copper coloured' band on the abdomen - in some cases there was a second very thin copper band as well. The bees are quite dark but the band is very metallic looking indeed - anyone seen anything like that in the area?

Most bees look like this they are probably hybrids of several types AMM, Carniolan, Italian, and a buckfast which is a complex hybrid itself
Have to get the camera out though and post a pic or two :)

[gavin]

Don't know about metallic though. Grab a passing forum admin on his way toddling up the hill to the allotment!

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[The Drone Ranger]

I See that a lot on drones thin metallic looking copper bands not hairy
I have one queen this year (again) light golden coloured no bands at all
Apparently I read that could be any bee type not necessarily Italian
Sort of like the melanistic pheasants you see occasionally
Some hybrids are very beautiful to look at

[gavin]

I wonder if Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus might be involved? It makes bees hairless and shiny, so the usual orange bands will look different. Often just a few bees in a colony.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=275

http://www.beediseases.host-ed.me/Bee_diseases/CBPV_files/shapeimage_4.png

[The Drone Ranger]

Here's a few photos on Flickr that show quite a few types
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjw71/galleries/72157626456150461
might help narrow it down a bit probably italian X
Most bees will be mixture of genes not just two types of bee
1715
The bands on this queen are copper coloured and on some others in the flickr pics
1719
http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/gardening-projects/types-of-honey-bees-ze0z1303zgar.aspx#axzz2ZnlVhFY4
the photo comes from the above link and show two carniolan bees which look very different

http://wadesbees.wordpress.com/category/honey-bee-races/
1720
here's a black bee from the preceding link

http://www.extension.org/pages/21742/subspecies:-the-place-of-honey-bees-in-the-world