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western honey bee : ウィキペディア英語版 | western honey bee
The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is a species of honey bee. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' means "honey-bearing". It has a defined social caste system and complex communication behaviors, such as intricate dance routines to indicate food availability. It is frequently maintained by beekeepers for its honey product. This species is widely distributed and an important pollinator for agriculture, though it is currently threatened by colony collapse disorder. It is also an important organism for scientific studies on social insects, especially as it now has a fully sequenced genome. ==Geographic distribution== The western honey bee is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. During the early 1600s it was introduced to North America, with other European subspecies introduced two centuries later. Since then, it has spread throughout the Americas. Western honey bees evolved into geographic races as they spread from Africa into Eurasia, and 28 subspecies based on these geographic variations are recognized.〔 All races are cross-fertile, although reproductive adaptations may make interbreeding unlikely. The subspecies are divided into four major branches, based on work by Ruttner and confirmed by mitochondrial DNA analysis. African subspecies belong to branch A, northwestern European subspecies branch M, southwestern European subspecies branch C and Mideastern subspecies branch O. These subspecies are listed and grouped in the sidebar. Regions with local variations may be identified as subspecies in the future; ''A. m. pomonella'', from the Tian Shan, would be included in the Mideastern subspecies branch. Geographic isolation led to adaptation as honey bees spread after the last ice age. These adaptations include brood cycles synchronized to the blooming period of local flora, forming a winter cluster in colder climates, migratory swarming in Africa and enhanced foraging behavior in desert areas.
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