Honey bees are not native to the New World, although North America has about 4,000 native species of bees. Honey bees were brought to America in the 17th century by the early European settlers. These bees were most likely of the subspecies A. m. mellifera, otherwise known as the German or ‘black’ bee, although they occurred originally from the UK to eastern Central Europe. Native Americans referred to these black bees as ‘white man’s flies’ noting that when honey bees appeared in areas previously devoid of them, European settlers would not be far behind.
This honey bee is very dark in colour and tends to be very defensive, making bee management more difficult. One of the German bees’ more favourable characteristics however is that they are a hardy strain, able to survive long, cold winters in northern climates.
But because of their defensive nature and their susceptibility to many brood diseases, including American and European foulbrood, this strain lost favour among beekeepers well over a century ago and was quickly replaced with Italian Bees. Although until recently the feral bee population in the U.S. was dominated by this strain, newly introduced diseases have almost wiped out most wild honey bee colonies, making the German bee now no longer a strain found in North America.
More about Honey Bee Strains and Hybrids
