Subjective evaluation of defensive behavior in the Syrian honeybee (Apis mellifera syriaca)

To separate gentle from defensive bee types, a rating scale is the most reliable, economical, and practical evaluation system. In initiating a breeding programme for the indigenous Syrian honeybee Apis mellifera syriaca, a typical representative of the endangered subspecies of the Middle East, multiple measurements were used to generally monitor this behavior and verify whether the international Apimondia recommendations are suitable for such subspecies. A total of 72 beekeepers and three breeding centers provided performancetesting results from 969 colonies distributed throughout 75 apiaries in Syria. Each colony was tested, on average, 4.73 times (4584 records total). The defensive behavior of A. m. syriaca was found to be very aggressive (1.48 scored by a system ranging from 1 (aggressive) to 4 (gentle)). The low repeatability (0.19) of defensive behavior estimated using restricted maximal likelihood analysis and the low and skewed variation of the trait indicate that other scoring systems are expected to be more efficient for selective breeding towards gentle behavior.