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>the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins s
by Dig1t 3y ago
>the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins several times over.
- jzimbel 3y agoFeral honey bees (European honey bees living in a non-beekeeper-managed colony) are different from North American native bees: https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348 https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348
- nathanrf 3y agoFeral != Native. There are no honeybee species native to North America; all honeybees, including the feral ones, are descended from colonies imported from Europe (e.g. the "Western honeybee" apis mellifera). There are a lot of non-honeybee bee species native to North America though, and they now face competition from feral domesticated honeybees. It's unclear exactly how much impact they have- some research does treat honeybees as a harmful invasive species (similar to many other human-introduced species). Native bee species have a harder time getting good PR because they don't directly work for us, even though they are important pollinators for some native plants.
- giantg2 3y agoI think there at least used to be honey producing bee species in the southern US. I believe some are extinct now and others are only present in South America now.
- mattmaroon 3y agoSouth America has the stingerless variety and I’m very jealous.
- Baeocystin 3y agoMayan honeybees are native to the Yucatan, FWIW. They've also spread to Cuba.
- darth_avocado 3y agoFeral honey bees may be thriving but native bees are collapsing.