Dwarf honey bee Apis florea

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Dwarf honey bee:
Dwarf honey bees are by far the most common honey bees throughout tropical Asia. The most common of the dwarf honey bees, is the Red dwarf honey bee (Apis florea) which is naturally distributed from the Indian subcontinent throughout south-east Asia through to the Malaysian peninsular. Another dwarf honey bee species, the Black dwarf honey bee (Apis andreniformis), is less common but is still widely distributed from the Philippines, to China and Myanmar. Both species overlap in south-east Asia.

Appearance and behaviour
Both species of dwarf honey bee look very similar. The Red dwarf honey bee is red-brown and has quite distinct red/brown and white and black bands on the abdomen. A foraging worker bee body length is 7–10 mm, while the forewing length is between 6.0–6.9 mm. The Black dwarf honey bee is roughly the same size, but is blacker in colour, as the name suggests.

Their nesting biology is also very similar. Dwarf honey bees are characterised by their external nesting habits and their single comb. Dwarf honey bee nests consist of a small single comb (usually less than 25 cm across) nest that is built around a small branch. This small nest contains a crown above the branch for honey storage, as well as being used by the bees as a platform for the foragers leaving and arriving at the nest. The brood comb is suspended below the supporting branch in a single comb. The curtain of bees for a large dwarf honey bee colony is usually 3–4 bees thick. On either side of the nest on the branch, the honey bees commonly place a propolis barrier on the branch which acts as a sticky and repellent barrier to protect the nest from attack by other insects, such as ants.

Given that dwarf honey bee colonies are usually very small (usually only a few thousand bees), and that they only produce a single comb with very little honey, dwarf honey bees have not been domesticated for honey production or pollination services. Apart from their small size and simple single comb exposed nests, much of their life cycle, biology and behaviour is similar to that of other Apis species.

The dwarf honey bee (or red dwarf honey bee), Apis florea, is one of two species of small, wild honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, Apis andreniformis. First identified in the late 18th century, Apis florea is unique for its morphology, foraging behavior and defensive mechanisms like making a piping noise. Apis florea have open nests and small colonies, which makes them more susceptible to predation than cavity nesters with large numbers of defensive workers.

Distribution:
A. florea spans the continents of Asia and Africa and is most commonly seen in Southeastern Asia (Thailand), the Northeastern part of India, China, and forested regions of the Middle East.