Apis cerana

Eastern honey bee
Asiatic honey bee - Khao Yai National Park, Thailand
Apis cerana workers and queen (marked with red dot) from hive near Chiang Mai, Thailand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Apis
Species:
A. cerana
Binomial name
Apis cerana
Fabricius, 1793
Map showing the range of Apis cerana
Range of Apis cerana

Apis cerana, the eastern honey bee, Asiatic honey bee or Asian honey bee, is a species of honey bee native to South, Southeast and East Asia. This species is the sister species of Apis koschevnikovi and both are in the same subgenus as the western (European) honey bee, Apis mellifera.[1][2][3][4][5] A. cerana is known to live sympatrically along with Apis koschevnikovi within the same geographic location.[6] Apis cerana colonies are known for building nests consisting of multiple combs in cavities containing a small entrance, presumably for defense against invasion by individuals of another nest.[7] The diet of this honey bee species consists mostly of pollen and nectar, or honey.[8] Moreover, Apis cerana is known for its highly social behavior, reflective of its classification as a type of honey bee.[4]

The terms Apis cerana indica and Apis Indica[9] or Indian honey bee,[10][11] is an historic term, with all Asian hive bees now referred to as Apis cerana.[12]

  1. ^ Srinivasan, M.R. (2004). "Biodiversity of Honeybees". Advances in management of productive insects. Coimbatore: TNAU Publications.
  2. ^ Engel, M.S. (1999) The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 8: pp. 165–196.
  3. ^ Photos of Apis cerana Archived February 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Oldroyd, Benjamin P.; Wongsiri, Siriwat (2006). Asian Honey Bees (Biology, Conservation, and Human Interactions). Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674021940.
  5. ^ "Reporting diseases". Bee Aware. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  6. ^ Koeniger, N.; Koeniger, G.; Tingek, S.; Kelitu, A. (1996). "Interspecific rearing and acceptance of queens between Apis cerana Fabricius, 1793 and Apis koschevnikovi Buttel-Reepen, 1906". Apidologie. 27 (5): 371–380. doi:10.1051/apido:19960505.
  7. ^ Nanork, P., et al. "Social parasitism by workers in queenless and queenright Apis cerana colonies." Molecular ecology 16.5 (2007): 1107-1114.
  8. ^ Haydak, Maykola H. "Honey bee nutrition." Annual Review of Entomology 15.1 (1970): 143-156.
  9. ^ Kellogg, Claude R. (1941). "Some Characteristics of the Oriental Honeybee, Apis indica F., in China". Journal of Economic Entomology. 34 (5): 717–719. doi:10.1093/jee/34.5.717.
  10. ^ Barbier, Yvan. "Apis of the world". Atlas Hymenoptera. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Factsheet - Apis mellifera (The Honey Bee)". Apis mellifera (The Honey Bee). Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Apis cerana group". Bees for development. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.