Apis mellifera monticola is known by the common name of the East African mountain honey bee. In 2017 its complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced, confirming that it belonged to the A Lineage of honey bees and concluding that "A phylogenetic tree showed that A. m. monticola clusters with other African subspecies".[2]
In 2017 DNA analysis identified differentiation between lowland (A. m. scutellata) and highland (A. m. monticola) honey bees, that is believed to give the A. m. monticola an advantage in the cooler and wetter environment of the highlands; some hybridization was observed in some hives but this appeared to be low. The research concluded that the DNA suggested that these two subspecies DNA divergence actually predated the divergence between the other Apis mellifera subspecies.[3]
Its range occurs within the mountains of eastern Africa (east of Lake Victoria), in Kenya and Tanzania; the claims that its range could extend towards the mountains of Cameroon have been questioned.[4]
In 1987 Brother Adam, the breeder of the Buckfast bee breed, visited Tanzania to collect A. m. monticola bees and incorporated them into his Buckfast breeding programme, in part due to their reputation of resistance to cooler and wetter weather, along with a docile temperament, it was believed they would compliment the Buckfast bees characteristics.[5] Later in 1989 a Swedish expedition visited the Mount Elgon region of Kenya, collecting A. m. monticola bees with the aim of determining their Varroa mite resistance, and to see if this could be incorporated into A. m. ligusta and Buckfast bees.[6]
Their appearance is uniformly black in colour, with their wings having a darker tinge than other honey bees, with the Queens having somewhat longer legs.[6]
^Michael S Engel (1999). "The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae; Apis)". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 8 (2): 180. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^A. Eimanifar, R. T. Kimball, E. L. Braun, S. Fuchs, B. Grünewald, J. D. Ellis (2017). "The complete mitochondrial genome of an east African honey bee, Apis mellifera monticola Smith". Mitochondrial DNA Part B. 2 (2): 589–590. doi:10.1080/23802359.2017.1372722. PMC 7799518. PMID 33473912.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^A. Wallberg, C. Schoning, M. T. Webster, M. Hasselmann (2017). "Two extended haplotype blocks are associated with adaptation to high altitude habitats in East African honey bees". PLOS Genetics. 13 (5): e1006792. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006792. PMC 5444601. PMID 28542163.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Michael S Engel (1999). "The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae; Apis)". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 8 (2): 180. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^"(Buckfast) Pedigree Season 1988". perso.unamur.be. PedigreeApis.org. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ abErik Österlund (1991). "Exploring Monticola — Efforts to Find an Acceptable Varroa-Resistant Honey Bee". American Bee Journal. 131: 49–56. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
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