Innovations: A simple apparatus for sampling honeybees from wild colonies
Author(s)
Marija M Kwak
Abstract
In some semi-arid environments of India, and other parts of South Asia where Apis cerana is absent, the indigenous wild bees, Apis donata and Apis florea, are importantpollinators of cultivated crops and they are often collected for study and experimentalpurposes. So far, only very crude sampling methods have been used, such as the killingof a whole colony with a solution of soap in water. The need for a method of taking smallsamples of bees, whilst causing minimum disturbance to the colony, led Dr Sihag, ofHaryana Agricultural University in India, to develop the 'Sihag bee sampler' (Fig. 1).
