Apis mellifera sossimai (common name the Ukrainian honey bee) extending from the west of Ukraine centrally and southwards towards the Caucasus mountains.

[1] However in 2011 research from Russia conducted mtDNA analysis showing that the A. m. sossimai was not a separate subspecies, but only an ecotype of the Apis mellifera macedonica subspecies.

[2] Its name is derived from St. Sossima, patron Saint of beekeeping in Ukraine.

St. Sossima may be a Christian version of the bee-god Zosim of some early pagan tribes of Russia.

This Apinae article is a stub.