The carniolan bee (Apis mellifera carnica) is the indigenous and only sub-species of honey bee in Croatia, characterized by its successful overwintering, explosive spring development, diligence and good gathering activity, low aggressiveness and pronounced swarming behaviour. In our study, we compared the differences in the characteristics of overwintering success, colonies development, behaviour and disease resistance traits in 5 different lines of carniolan bees. Groups 1 to 3 were of a local origin selected for 15 years. Group 4 is of local origin and has never been under artificial selection. Queens from Group 5 were from Germany and under selection for 60 years. The results of the study did not show significant differences between the number of bees and brood cells, but a later development of group 5 was recorded compared to other groups. The lowest overwintering index after both winter was recorded in group 5 as well as consumption of food during winter. The worst score for defensive behavior had groups 4 and 3 and were significantly worse than group 5. The lowest score for the calmness on the comb was found in group 4, significantly worse than all other groups. Swarming behaviour was most pronounced in group 4, which was significantly worse rated by groups 1, 3 and 5. In honey production and pollen collection there were no significant differences between groups, as well as with hygienic behavior, grooming and suppressed mite reproduction (SMR). Colonies from group 4 had the highest, and group 5 the lowest recorded recapping of brood cells. In all groups there was a uniform development of varoe population, and in groups 4 and 5 there was a slightly lower population of mites comparing to the first three groups. Finally, group 4 had a significantly worse selection index than group 5, while no significant differences were found among other groups.