Two species of small honeybee-a study of the genus Micrapis
Author(s)
Wu Yan-Ru And Kuang Bangyu
Abstract
The small or dwarf honeybee is usually called Apis florea. A recent paper in Chinese, with English summary, by Wu and Kuang shows that two species of small honeybee occur sympatrically in southern China. They were also considered as distinct species by Maa in 1953 but he recognized so many 'species' of honeybees that most authors have discounted the characteristics that he listed for the two species of small honeybees. Wu and Kuang, who for the first time report on all three castes of both species, find them not to constitute the single species Apis florea but rather two distinct species in the genus Micrapis (Ashmead). Ms Wu has kindly provided an English version of the paper, which seems important to publish (below) because most Western bee specialists will neither see, nor be able to read, the original.
