DSC_1416 Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica ) a worker bee from a modern hive gathers nectar from wild vipers bugloss (Echium vulgare) a plant originally from Europe and central Asia, which now flowers throughout the Mackenzie Basin and here on the shoreline of Lake Ohau. Honey bees were first introduced into New Zealand in 1839 and since then have aided the naturalisation of many continental weeds by providing pollination services. Lake Ohau, Mackenzie Country *
DSC_1429 Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica ) a worker bee from a modern hive gathers nectar from wild vipers bugloss (Echium vulgare) a plant originally from Europe and central Asia, which now flowers throughout the Mackenzie Basin and here on the shoreline of Lake Ohau. Honey bees were first introduced into New Zealand in 1839 and since then have aided the naturalisation of many continental weeds by providing pollination services. Lake Ohau, Mackenzie Country *
DSC_8318 Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica ) a 'golden' queen surrounded by worker bees in a modern hive. 'Italian' bees are a subspecies of the western honey bee. Honey bees - probably Old English 'black' bees (Apis mellifera mellifera), were first introduced into New Zealand in 1839. The Italian honeybee is thought to originate from the continental part of Italy, south of the Alps, and north of Sicily, and is a subspecies which possibly survived the last Ice Age in Italy. It is now the most widely distributed of all honey bees, Hanmer.
