Honeybees of Africa

  • Howard R. Hepburn &
  • S. E. Radloff
Springer: 1998. 370pp. £64.50, $109
Experimental honeypot: African honeybees can teach us a lot about populations and gene flow. Credit: ROB NUNNINGTON/OXFORD SCIENTIFIC FILMS

The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is the familiar species used for most of the world's beekeeping. It is native to Europe, the Middle East and the whole of Africa, and has been introduced by beekeepers to the Americas, Asia, Australia and the Pacific islands. Although most scientific studies of the honeybee have been conducted in Europe and North America, and have involved the subspecies native to Europe, more than two-thirds of this species’ natural distribution area falls in Africa. Across this continent the honeybee inhabits such ecologically diverse settings as lowland rainforests, semi-arid savannahs, steamy coastal swamps and cool mountain ranges.

The smallest and the largest, the blackest and the brightest, and the gentlest and the fiercest forms of A. mellifera exist in Africa.

The authors of Honeybees of Africa describe the honeybee scene in Africa as “a magnificent natural experiment”, offering a special opportunity to investigate the nature of gene flow, population structure and biological adaptation. This is because these bees have been disturbed by humans only as honey-hunters and fire-starters; more disruptive interventions such as migratory beekeeping and selective breeding are virtually unknown in most of the continent.

The book begins with one of its most significant contributions: a detailed re-examination of the subspecies classification of the honeybees of Africa based on a new multivariate morphometric analysis. By amalgamating their own database at Rhodes University in South Africa with that of the late Friederich Ruttner of the Institut für Bienenkunde in Germany, the authors were able to base their analysis on 18,175 worker bees, representing 1,000 colonies in 291 localities across the continent. The result is a superb presentation, region by region (Maghreb, Nile Valley, East Africa and so on), of the geographical variability and population structure of the African honeybees.

This morphometric analysis, together with genetic studies by others, shows that populations of honeybees thought to be homogeneous and thus defined as subspecies actually show complex geographical variation. A recurrent theme is, therefore, the problem of accommodating natural population variation in a classification scheme. Unfortunately, to name things (such as populations of honeybees) typifies them and leads to typological thinking. In the end, the authors essentially follow Ruttner's classification system of subspecies names, because names are needed to discuss things, but the reader is shown clearly the tremendous variation within the honeybee populations of the continent.

The book's other major contribution is a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. For many topics — including the seasonal migration of colonies, the curious fertility of workers in queenless colonies of A. m. capensis, and the diverse predators and parasites of honeybees — the authors provide the best summary available. Often, though, the discussion is necessarily thin, simply for lack of information.

Honeybees of Africa provides biologists with an excellent source of information and challenges. I applaud the authors for thoroughly synthesizing what is known about A. mellifera across the whole of Africa, thereby setting the stage for countless exciting discoveries.