Maltese bees are at risk of “imminent extinction” unless foreign species are banned, a group dedicated to conserving the insect has claimed.

Their warning follows a study by the MEDIBEES project, which found a rapid decline in the local subspecies.

It blamed the importation of queen bees from Italy.

The study investigated the genetic make-up of the bee population and found that only one in 10 of the groups sampled could be classified as the Maltese honeybee, Apis mellifera ruttneri.

The green dots show the Maltese subspecies, and the green-orange dots show the Maltese/Italian species. Graphic: MEDIBEES

Early findings of the research showed most were instead mixed with the Apis mellifera ligustica, known as the Italian bee.

The Foundation for the Conservation of Maltese Bee said the “alarming results” of the study emphasised the importance of immediate action.

“The implementation of a ban on the importation of foreign honey bees is a necessity if we want to safeguard the Maltese bee,” it said. “Time is of the essence, and we must act promptly before it is too late.”

Many beekeepers import ligustica queens from nearby Italy. By this, they put the genetic integrity of their subspecies at risk

The first geographical study on Maltese honey bees analysed 47 samples from Malta and Gozo.

Most were mixed with the Italian bee, only six were found to be purely of the Maltese species while in seven samples, local bees had a shared genetic background with those collected in Algeria.

“Many beekeepers import ligustica queens from nearby Italy. By this, they put the genetic integrity of their subspecies at risk,” the report’s authors said.

The preliminary findings were presented to the Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Chile last month.

Earlier in May a group of local academics published a review of the current legal protections in place for Maltese bees and suggested that the importation of foreign bees be banned to safeguard the genetic purity of Apis mellifera ruttneri.

This could be achieved, they said, by declaring all non-native bee species as invasive alien species.