Chapter 9 - Apis Species: (Honey Bees)

Abstract

This chapter discusses Apis species, which comprises 11 known species They are also known for being social insects in the family Apidae, order Hymenoptera; they are among the Aculeata that is those having stingers. A. mellifera and A. cerana, which can also live outside the tropics, were separate species by the end of the Pliocene about 2 million years ago. Therefore, the highly advanced cavity-nesting species have existed only perhaps a tenth as long as the open-nesting species, which were confined to the warmer tropics. But the most important species to humans is A. mellifera, which has been introduced all over the world for use in beekeeping, whereas A. cerana which is kept in hives in the temperate zone as well as the tropics is smaller than A. mellifera and it makes smaller colonies. Other Asian species that build a multiple-comb nest in a cavity are A. koschevnikovi and A. nuluensis reported in Borneo and A. nigrocincta in Sulawesi. The most important to humans is A. dorsata, a bee much larger than A. cerana. A. laboriosa, which is even larger, lives in parts of the Himalayas too high for A. dorsata. Much smaller than A. cerana, A. florea is widespread below around 500 m and can live in drier areas than A. dorsata.