Description:The Asiatic honey bee is less than 3/4 of an inch long. It has prominent abdominal stripes.
Life History:All honey bees have the same general life history. A colony consists of one breeding female, the queen; up to several thousand males, the drones; and a large number of non-breeding females, the workers. Eggs are laid singly in a cell in the hive. Larvae hatch and undergo several moltings; they then turn into pupae. Pupae rest for several days and emerge as adult honey bees. After a queen hatches it goes on a mating flight, leaving the hive to mate with several drones. New colonies are created by swarming - a queen and a large number of workers leave the hive to locate a new nest site. The Asiatic honey bee usually swarms twice a year, once in the summer between March and May and once in the winter between November and December.
Habitat:Nests are constructed in dark enclosures like caves, rock cavities, and hollow tree trunks.
Distribution:This species occurs in the Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka in the west, southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to the east, and north to southern USSR, China, Korea, and Japan.
Status:This species is declining due to the introduction of the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, into its range.
Resources: Chapter 1 Honeybees of the Genus Apis (Pongthep Akratanakul, Beekeeping in Asia, FAO Agricultural ServicesBulletin 68/4, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,Rome, 1990)
The Genus Apis (Zachary Huang, CyberBee, Michigan State University)
Dwarf Honey Bee
Apis florea
Description:The dwarf honey bee is the smallest of the honey bee species, and is about 10 mm long. It is reddish colored and the abdomen is red.
Life History:All honey bees have the same general life history. A colony consists of one breeding female, the queen; up to several thousand males, the drones; and a large number of non-breeding females, the workers. Eggs are laid singly in a cell in the hive. Larvae hatch and undergo several moltings; they then turn into pupae. Pupae rest for several days and emerge as adult honey bees. After a queen hatches it goes on a mating flight, leaving the hive to mate with several drones. New colonies are created by swarming - a queen and a large number of workers leave the hive to locate a new nest site. The dwarf honey bee sends multiple swarms out throughout the spring and summer.
These honey bees are open-air nesters and create the smallest nest of all honey bees, consisting of a single comb. The nest is covered with layers of worker bees clinging to each other forming a living protective curtain.
Habitat:The dwarf honey bee is found in tropical forests, woods, farming areas, and even some villages.
Distribution:This species is primarily found in warm climates from Oman, Iran, and Pakistan, through the Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka, east to Indonesia. Its primary distribution center is southeast Asia.
Resources: Chapter 1 Honeybees of the Genus Apis (Pongthep Akratanakul, Beekeeping in Asia, FAO Agricultural ServicesBulletin 68/4, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,Rome, 1990)
The Genus Apis (Zachary Huang, CyberBee, Michigan State University)
More Than One Species of Honey Bee Provides Pollination Services
In the United States, when people talk about honey bees they are most often referring to the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). However, all species in the genus Apis, which evolved in tropical Eurasia, are considered honey bees.
All honey bee colonies store honey in the hive - hence the group is collectively referred to as honey bees. Honey bees are native to the Old World, specifically Asia and Europe. The European honey bee was brought to North America by colonists and it is now widely distributed here. Anywhere from six to 11 species of honey bees have been recognized. Examples include the dwarf, small or midget honey bee (Apis florea); the giant, rock or cliff honey bee (Apis dorsata), and Asiatic, Eastern or Himalayan hive honey bee (Apis cerana).
Honey bees are generalist floral visitors and pollinate a wide variety of plants. The honey bee's body becomes dusted with pollen during foraging. This pollen is then transferred from plant to plant as the bee continues to visit flowers. The dwarf honey bee is known to be a good pollinator of mango and lychee or litchi nut (Litchi chinensis). Some of the crops pollinated by the Asiatic honey bee and the giant honey bee include radish, broccoli, buckwheat, cucumber, mango, okra, and sesame.
Honey bees are social bees. Solitary bees usually build and live in individual nests rather than in a hive or with a colony of bees, while social or communal bees do live colonially in hives or bee communities.
Description:These bees are between 17 and 19 mm long. They are yellow in color with black stripes on the abdomen.
Life History:All honey bees have the same general life history. A colony consists of one breeding female, the queen; up to several thousand males, the drones; and a large number of non-breeding females, the workers. Eggs are laid singly in a cell in the hive. Larvae hatch and undergo several moltings; they then turn into pupae. Pupae rest for several days and emerge as adult honey bees. After a queen hatches it goes on a mating flight, leaving the hive to mate with several drones. New colonies are created by swarming - a queen and a large number of workers leave the hive to locate a new nest site.
The giant honey bee migrates seasonally back and forth throughout its range to escape harsh environmental conditions. It is believed that the giant honey bee has a fixed pattern in its annual migratory route. These bees are open-air nesters and they produce a single-comb nest. Nests may be found singly or in groups of up to 20 nests in the same tree. These bees are aggressive in defending the hive; 3/4 of the worker bees are involved in defense of the colony and form a living protective curtain. Most colonies abscond at the end of the summer.
Habitat:The giant honey bee lives in or near forests.
Distribution:This species is found west to Pakistan and southern Afghanistan, through the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, east to Indonesia and parts of the Philippines, and north to southern China.
Status:This species may be declining due to bee hunting, loss of habitat, and pesticide use.
Resources: Chapter 1 Honeybees of the Genus Apis (Pongthep Akratanakul, Beekeeping in Asia, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 68/4, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, 1990)
The Genus Apis (Zachary Huang, CyberBee, Michigan State University)
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Office of the U.S. Geological Survey
