CHAPTER 2 DIVERSITY OF HONEYBEES IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA 2.1 INTRODUCTION Tamil Nadu is the extreme southern state of India, bounded by Andhra Pradesh on the North, Karnataka and Kerala on the west, Indian Ocean on the south and the Bay of Bengal from the East. Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of India lies in the state of Tamil Nadu. Eastern and Western Ghats (mountain ranges) run along with the borders of the state meeting at Sittlingi in Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu. Western Ghats, bordering Tamil Nadu, breaks only at two points - Palakkad (25 km wide gap) and Shencottah, which connect the state with Karnataka and Kerala. Tamil Nadu state roughly extends between the 8 04' N latitude (Cape Comorin) and 78 0' E longitude. Geographically, Tamil Nadu is situated on the eastern side of the Indian Peninsula between the northern latitude of 8.5" and 13.35" and the eastern longitude of 76.15" and 80.20". Tamil is the official language in Tamil Nadu and considered as an oldest language of the world. Tamil is considered as a first Dravidian language and peoples of Tamil Nadu are called as dravidians, since they hold the historical name from the Stone Age. Peoples in Tamil Nadu believe in Hinduism, Christianity or Islamism. Innumerous references refer honey- honey hunting were found in Bible and well as Sangam literature. Tamil Nadu is tropical in nature with little variation in summer and winter temperatures. While April to June is the hottest summer period with the temperature rising up to 40ºC mark, November to February is the coolest winter period with 15
temperature hovering around 20ºC, making the climate quite pleasant. Surprisingly, Tamil Nadu gets all its rains from the North - East Monsoon between October and December, when the rest of Tamil Nadu remains arid. The average rainfall in Tamil Nadu ranges from 25 to 75 inches (635 and 1,905 mm) in a year. 2.1.1 HONEYBEES IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA The origin of the honeybees is supposed to be tropical Africa from where they spread to South Africa, Northern Europe and East into India and China. They were introduced into America by the first colonists and now they are distributed throughout the world (Singh, 2007). A. cerana indica F., A. dorsata F., A. florea F., and Trigona spp. (Stingless bees) are commonly found in India (Hegde, 1999; Robinson, 2009). Among them, A. cerana and A. mellifera are ubiquitously found in different parts of India and reared in hives. Indian honeybee A. cerana occurs in two distinct colours yellow (Plain) and black (Hill) (Baskaran, 2011). 2.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.2.1 Study Area The present study was conducted from January 2008 to March, 2009 to investigate the honeybee diversity after regular field visits in the area of Western and Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, South India (Plate :1). On the basis of the forest type and climatic conditions, six study sites were selected (Plate: 2 and Table: 1).They are as follows Western Ghats: Kalakad - Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), Kanikudiyiruppu, Mayilar, Periyamayilar, Papanasam and Eastern Ghats: Kolli hills and Yercaud. 16
The forests of the study sites were known for top hillocks with rubber and medicinal plantations including spices like Elettaria cardamomum. Honey bees diversity was analyzed with the help of apiarists and bee keepers. 2.2.2 Species Identification Overall 157 colonies were collected from logs and wild hives in the study regions. A. mellifera F.colonies alone were collected from beekeepers. Ten worker bees from each colony were collected, and then the species were identified based on their morphological characters including head, abdominal segments, colors, and wings etc. The identification of the honeybees was further confirmed by the kind courtesy of Charles D. Michner, Natural history Museum, University of Kansas, USA. 17
Table -1: Details of the Study Sites S. No Study Area Region Location Forest Type Temp Altitude 1 Karaiyar KMTR 2 Mayilar Western Ghats 3 Periyamayilar Between 8 25' - 8 53' N latitude77 10' - 77 35' E longitude Tropical Semi or 13 C-24 C 1200mts Wet Evergreen Tirunelveli Dist, 4 Papanasam Latitude 8 43' N Longitude 77 29'E Wet Evergreen 18 C-29 C 106mts Tamil Nadu, India 5 Kolli Hills Eastern Ghats 6 Yercaud Between latitude 10 12' -11 7' N Longitude 76-77'- 56'E Latitude 11 48' N Longitude 78 11'E Tropical Dry 13 C-30 C 1300mts Deciduous Tropical Moist 13 C-30 C 1500mts Deciduous 18
2.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Among the 157 colonies, 55 were A. cerana indica F., 49 A. dorsata F., 22 A. florae F., 21, Trigona sp. and 10, A. mellifera L. All the species identified belonged to the genera Apis and Trigona (Plate: 3-7). All the species were found to be distributed equally in the Western and Eastern Ghats. Especially Trigona iridipennis, a rare species of stingless bees was identified; moreover it was found to be reared by the Kani tribes of Western Ghats of Tirunelveli dist, Tamilnadu since 30 years back (Sureshkumar et al, 2012). Honey obtained from these species is used as traditional medicine in Tirunelveli Dist, Tamilnadu (Ranjit Singh and Padmalatha, 2004). A study conducted by Lena et al, (2012), revealed the presence of 50 different species of invertebrates in the Maruthamalai region, the honeybee diversity being around 4%. This may be due to the reason that the location of Maruthamalai is nearer to Ootacamund, a great world renowned habitat for flora and fauna in Tamil Nadu. Compared to the study of Lena et al, (2012), the present research pointed out still higher percent of honeybee diversity. When the species identified in this study are compared with those of the other parts of South Indian regions like Karnataka, except A. mellifera L., all the other four species viz, A. cerana indica F., A. dorsata F., A. florae F. and stingless bees are found commonly throughout the state. Tiwari et al, (2010), reported the presence of, A. dorsata F. in the Garhwal Himalayan region whereas the present study indicate its presence all over Tamil Nadu, South India., A. mellifera L. is found in Northern and Eastern plains of India (Thomas et al, 2002).In the present study, we have not come across the presence of A. mellifera L. in natural habitats and hence they are reared by the beekeepers. These honeybees produce comparatively large quantities of honey. A. mellifera L. is an exotic species dependent upon man for fulfilling its needs. It is a vigorous feeder on Sunflower. 19
Even from very ancient times, the Hill Tribes have been engaged in beekeeping and honey hunting. In the Western Ghats honeybees are present throughout the year. Hence honey hunting is also carried at throughout the year. Honey hunting has been therefore one of the important vocation for the Tribal people. It is evident that the economy of the poor Tribal s has been dependent upon honey hunting. The climatic and environmental conditions prevalent in the Western Ghats are highly conducive to the life of honeybees ensuring its presence throughout the year. The Tribal people point out that there is a slow decline in the honeybee population consequent upon the developments in the communication sector and the degradation of the forests by the greedy man. 20