Apis mellifera ligustica is the Italian bee which is a subspecies of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera). Origin The Italian honey bee is endemic to the continental part of Italy, south of the Alps, and north of Sicily, where it survived the last ice age. On Sicily the subspecies is Apis mellifera siciliana. It is likely the most commercially distributed of all honey bees, and has proven adaptable to most climates from subtropical to cool temperate, but it is less successful in humid tropical regions. Italian bees that originate from the Ligurian alps in northern Italy are often referred to as the Ligurian bee, which is claimed only survives on Kangaroo Island. Italian bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Mediterranean, are less able to cope with the "hard" winters and cool, wet springs of more northern latitudes. They do not form such tight winter clusters. More food has to be consumed to compensate for the greater heat loss from the loose cluster. The tendency to raise broods late in autumn also increases food consumption. Noted beekeeper Thomas White Woodbury first introduced the Italian bee to Britain in 1859, and regarded it as vastly superior to the Old British Black bee (A. m. mellifera). Anatomy Color: Abdomen has brown and yellow bands. Among different strains of Italian bees, there are three different colors: Leather; bright yellow (golden); and very pale yellow (Cordovan). Size: Their bodies are smaller and their overhairs are shorter than those of the darker honeybee races. Tongue length: 6.3 to 6.6 mm Mean cubital index: 2.2 to 2.5 Characteristics Brother Adam, a bee breeder and developer of the Buckfast bee, characterized the Italian bee in his book Breeding the Honeybee: While the Italian bee has many strong points, among the A.m. ligustica it has a large number of weak points: Strengths shows strong disposition to breeding and very prolific cleanliness/excellent housekeeper (which some scientists think might be a factor in disease resistance) uses little propolis excellent foragers superb comb builder (writing in Switzerland in 1862, H. C. Hermann stated the comb of an Italian bee-cell occupied only 15 cells for every 16 of the common black bee, and the cubic content was larger by 30%) covers the honey with brilliant white cappings shows lower swarming tendency than other Western honey bee races for areas with continuous nectar flow and favorable weather throughout