Find a bee species that produces exceptionally high quality honey

Scientists from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology have discovered that honey bees have economic potential, due to their outstandingly high honey quality.

Economic potential of bees

MSc Tran Thi Ngat and colleagues from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology have just discovered that the giant bee species has great potential to serve socio-economic development.

According to MSc Tran Thi Ngat, with their important role in the pollination process, honey bees receive great attention from scientists around the world.

Many studies show that there have been more than 20,000 species of bees belonging to 7 families discovered, distributed worldwide. Besides genera with a rich number of species, there are still genera with very few species and information about their biological characteristics is very limited, including the group of bees.

Stinging bees are the smallest group of social bees that produce honey, belonging to the family Apidae. In Vietnam, scientists have searched and discovered 10 species of bees belonging to 4 varieties.

Photo of developmental stages of Lepidotrigona flavibasis.

Products (honey, pollen and propolis) made from this group of bees have many uses in medicine . However, up to now there has been no research on the nest structure, morphology and development stages to serve the process of taming and developing this bee colony.

MSc Tran Thi Ngat and colleagues have provided a list of components of honey bee species with little data in some Northwest provinces and data on biological characteristics such as nest structure, stages of development or activities. The flight of the bee species has economic potential.

The group recorded a total of 18 bee species belonging to 4 families Apidae, Halictidae, Megachilidae and Melittidae in the Northwest region. The team also discovered 1 new subtribe (Noteriadina), 1 new genus (Ebaiotrigona), 2 new species (Bathanthidium paco and Noteriades hangkia), 3 new species recorded for Vietnam (Thrinchostoma sladeni, Anthidiellum carinatum and Chelostoma aureocinctum); At the same time, it was determined that there are 93 common species in the Northwest (including some species with quite narrow distribution such as Bathanthidium paco in Hoa Binh, Thrinchostoma sladeni in Dien Bien and Macropis hedini in Lao Cai).

In particular, the research has identified four species of bees that have potential in exploiting the products they create such as honey, pollen and propolis. The two species Lepidotrigona flavibasis and Tetragonula gressitti have more potential than Ebaiotrigona carpenteri in exploiting the honey and pollen they produce.

Mechanism to create high quality honey

According to MSc Tran Thi Ngat, the size of the pollen and honey bulbs in E. carpenteri is very small, giving very little honey and pollen. Meanwhile, the adaptability in cages of Lepidotrigona flavibasis bee colonies is better than that of Tetragonula gressitti, shown by the fact that Lepidotrigona flavibasis colonies develop very well when transferred to cages, while Tetragonula gressitti colonies develop poorly and tend to fade away.

On the other hand, the honey of Lepidotrigona flavibasis is clear and bright yellow, while the honey of Tetragonula gressitti is dark brown. In the world, honey from Lepidotrigona flavibasis is considered better than Apis cerana and Apis dorsata. Thus, Lepidotrigona flavibasis is one of the species with potential in domestication, breeding, and herd development, aiming for commercial farming for nectar and pollen in the Northwest region.

At the same time, scientists have provided data on the nest structure and morphology of the development stages of the most potentially useful species of giant bee (Lepidotrigona flavibasis) in the Northwest region, as a basis for domestication. nourish and develop this colony of bees.

Raising bees is very easy and safe. Honey bees will abandon their nests, but this phenomenon does not occur with giant bees. After giving birth, the queen bee stays in one place and cannot fly again. Honey has a sweet, light and slightly sour taste, and has a higher nutrient content than other types of honey, so many people buy it.

The scientific research results and products of the project have contributed to knowledge about biodiversity in the Northwest region of Vietnam as well as oriented the development of honeybee species with high economic potential. In addition, this result can be used as a reference and teaching material in the field of insect diversity.