Dark European Bee (Apis mellifera mellifera)

The European dark bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is the native honey bee subspecies of northern and western Europe; it is recognised by its dark colour, large and hairy build, thrifty overwintering and adaptation to cool, damp climates. It is also called the black bee, the Northern European black bee or the German bee. In the twentieth century it declined over wide areas through hybridisation with imported subspecies; today, pure lines are kept alive in protected areas in many countries.

Where does the European dark bee live?

Its natural range is a broad belt starting north and west of the Alps and stretching from the Pyrenees to the Ural Mountains: France, Belgium, the Netherlands, most of Germany, the British Isles, Ireland, southern Scandinavia, Poland and the forested regions of Russia. Genetically it belongs to the Western and Northern European (M) lineage; this lineage is distinct from the Eastern Mediterranean–Anatolian (O) and Carniolan–Italian (C) lineages to which the subspecies of Türkiye belong.

Names such as "British bee", "Irish bee" or "Nordic bee" describe local populations of this subspecies; they are not separate subspecies. It does not occur naturally in Türkiye.

How do you recognise a black bee?

• Colour: dark brown to black; the abdominal segments have no yellow band, or only a very faint one. There may be small brown spots on the chitin.
• Build: large and broad-bodied; thick abdomen.
• Hair: long, dense cover hairs; narrow hair bands on the abdomen.
• Tongue: short compared with other European subspecies.
• Wing measurements: a low cubital index and a mostly negative discoidal shift. These wing-vein measurements are the basis of the wing morphometrics used to identify subspecies.

Strengths of the black bee

• Thrift: uses winter stores economically; winter consumption is low.
• Adapted to cold, damp climates: flies at low temperatures and in overcast weather too; can make use of short windows of forage.
• Reliable overwintering: keeps a small winter cluster and rears long-lived winter bees; comes through long, harsh winters well.
• Adjusts brood to forage: egg laying drops quickly when nectar stops; the risk of starvation in a dearth is reduced.
• Late summer and heather forage: in Northern Europe it is known to make good use of late sources such as heather (Calluna).
• Local adaptation: selected over centuries for regional conditions; local lines are among the hardiest bees in their own climates.

Weaknesses and points to watch

• Slow spring build-up: may miss early, heavy spring forage (fruit, oilseed rape).
• Defensiveness: lines differ greatly; some are markedly bad-tempered. Hybrid (F1, F2) colonies in particular can be aggressive.
• Restless on the comb: when a frame is lifted, the bees running about and dripping off the edges make inspection harder.
• Swarming tendency: high in some lines.
• Disease susceptibility: susceptibility to chalkbrood and nosema varies by line; claims of any general superiority or weakness are not accurate.

Why did the black bee decline?

In the early twentieth century, Britain suffered heavy colony losses, called "Isle of Wight disease" at the time. The cause was long attributed to the tracheal mite; today this explanation is disputed. After the losses, Italian bees and other subspecies were imported on a large scale. In continental Europe too, the Carniolan and Italian bees were preferred throughout the twentieth century for their calmness and spring build-up.

As a result, the black bee lost its pure form through hybridisation across most of its natural range. Uncontrolled mating quickly spreads the genes of imported subspecies into the local population; given that drones fly for kilometres, even a single beekeeper's choice affects the surrounding colonies.

Conservation work

Today, many European countries have breeders' associations and legally protected areas to conserve the black bee.

• Protected mating areas: only black bees are kept in isolated places such as islands and mountain valleys.
• Island populations: Læsø in Denmark and some islands in Scotland and Ireland are among the important refuges.
• Selection programmes: selection within local lines for calmness, low swarming tendency and disease resistance.
• Purity checks by morphometrics and DNA: breeder colonies are verified by wing measurements and genetic testing.

Comparison: black bee, Carniolan and Italian bees

Who is it suitable for?

The black bee is well suited, within its own natural range, to beekeepers in cool regions with a short forage season who put reliable overwintering ahead of honey yield. Moving it outside its natural range, for example to Türkiye, is both unnecessary and carries a risk of hybridisation with local subspecies. For beekeepers in Türkiye, the real lesson of this page is this: the local bee adapted to its region is the most reliable bee in the long run and is worth protecting.