East African Lowland Honey Bee

Apis mellifera scutellata

A African honey bee subspecies native to the savanna and lowland regions of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, smaller-bodied and more defensive than European honey bee races, and the dominant managed and feral honey bee across most of Kenya below the highlands. It is the source population of the "Africanized" honey bee introduced to Brazil in the 1950s.

Species

Apis

Family

Apidae

Climate requirements

Well adapted to warm, semi-arid to sub-humid lowland and mid-altitude savanna, thriving where average temperatures are higher and dry seasons more pronounced than in Kenya's highlands. It tends toward frequent absconding when forage is scarce or weather is extreme, a key management constraint for keepers in drier lowland counties.