Synonyms
Apis andreniformis ; Apis florea ; Micrapis
Of the approximately 12 species of honey bees (genus Apis), two stand out for their small size and distinctive nest form: the black dwarf honey bee Apis andreniformis and the red dwarf honey bee Apis florea [6, 8, 11] (Fig. 1). Both are tiny, with a worker forewing length of just 6–7 mm, compared to about 10 mm for the western honey bee A. mellifera. The dwarf species also stand out for their nest form: a single comb built around a twig (Figs. 1b, 3), in contrast to the cavity-nesting honey bees (multiple combs in a cavity) and the giant honey bees (a single comb built under a support).
(a) The predominantly yellow-orange workers of Apis florea workers. (b) A small A. andreniformis colony, showing the black workers with white abdominal stripes
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Oldroyd, B.P. (2020). Dwarf Honey Bees (Apis (Micrapis)). In: Starr, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_38-1
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