Apis mellifera adami is a western honey bee subspecies, endemic to the island of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean.
Taxonomy The Apis mellifera adami was classified by Ruttner 1975 and named by him after Brother Adam.
Research in 2003 concluded that "the honey bee from Crete seems to be similar to the honey bee populations from other areas of Greece" while yet acknowledging that their genetic structures had most likely been changed over the past two decades due to migratory beekeeping and commercial breeding, concluding that there seemed to be no pure populations of A. m. adami left on the island.P Harizanis, Iera Odos Genetic structure of the bee from Crete island (Greece) Apidologie (2003) 2012 Mendeley Ltd [Retrieved 2011-12-20]
Beekeeping Western Cretan beehives are constructed of terracotta, wood and wicker. On the east of the island the hives are always ceramic.L.Nixon sphakia.classics.ox.ac.uk (Oxford University website) The Sphakia survey [Retrieved 2011-12-20] cited also: Baumann, Hellmut 1993. Greek Wild Flowers, London: Herbert.
See also Bee domestication and Beekeeping
References
Friedrich Ruttner (1975). Die Kretische Biene, Apis mellifica adami [The Cretan bee]. Deutsche Allgemeine Imkerzeitung, 9 (10), pp. 271–272.
External links A.Gönülşen THE MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY FEATURE EXTRACTION OF HONEYBEE FOREWINGS AND HINDLEGS USING IMAGE PROCESSING AND ACTIVE CONTOURS Middle East Technical University2004 [Retrieved 2011-12-20] thesis states that A.m.adamii populate Cyprus