Apis florea
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| Apis florea Fabricius, 1787 |
The Dwarf Honeybee (Apis florea) is one of two species of small, wild honeybees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, Apis andreniformis.
[edit] Species
These two species together comprise the subgenus Micrapis, and are the most primitive of the living species of Apis, reflected in their small colony size, and simple nest construction. The exposed combs are built on branches of shrubs and small trees, and the forager bees do not perform a waggle dance to recruit nestmates as in the domesticated Apis mellifera, but instead they "dance" on the horizontal upper surface where the comb wraps around the supporting branch - the dance is a straight run pointing directly to the source of pollen or nectar that the forager has been visiting. In all other Apis species, the comb on which foragers dance is vertical, and the dance is not actually directed towards the food source.
[edit] Life cycle
Aside from their small size, simple exposed nests, and simplified dance language, the life cycle and behavior of this species is fairly similar to other species of Apis.
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