Apis nuluensis

Taxonomy

Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Apini Latreille, 1802
Genus: Apis Linnaeus, 1758
Subgenus: Apis (Apis) Linnaeus, 1758
Species: Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger, & Koeniger, 1996
Common names: none

Overview

Honey bees of the species Apis nuluensis have a medium size, a darker coloration of the body, and conspicuous four whitish tomentae in the metasomametasoma:
the posterior part of the body
. The species is found at altitudes close to 2000 m in the mountains of Gunung Emas (Mt. Kinabalu highlands and Croker range), Borneo. A. nuluensis is the host of the parasite Varroa underwoodi.

Tingek, et al. (1996) produced the following table to show some of the morphometricmorphometric:
from the Greek: &quot;morph,&quot; meaning &quot;shape,&quot; and &quot;metron,&quot; meaning &quot;measurement.&quot; Different schools of morphometrics are characterized by what aspects of biological &quot;form&quot; they are concerned with, what they choose to measure, and what kinds of biostatistical questions they ask of the measurements once they are made; such as configurations of landmarks from whole organs or organisms analyzed by appropriately invariant biometric methods (covariances of taxon, size, etc.) and in order to answer biological questions. Another sort of morphometrics studies tissue sections, measures the densities of points and curves, and uses these patterns to answer questions about the random processes that may be controlling the placement of cellular structures. A third, the method of &quot;allometry,&quot; measures sizes of separate organs and asks questions about their correlations with each other and with measures of total size. There are many others.</p
and morphological characters of the workers used to separate this species from similar and sympatricsympatric:
overlapping geographic distribution
species:

Character	A. nuluensis	A. koschevnikovi	A. cerana
hair length (T5)	0.23 ± 0.016 mm	0.15 ± 0.02 mm	0.15 ± 0.09 mm
pigment, integument	black	rufous	black
fore and hind legs	femur femur: the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia light brown, tibiatibia: the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus black	femur femur: the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia light brown, tibiatibia: the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus light brown	femur femur: the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia black, tibiatibia: the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus black
length forewing	8.08 ± 0.09 mm	8.46 ± 0.11 mm	7.42 ± 0.09 mm
width forewing	2.78 ± 0.07 mm	2.98 ± 0.05 mm	2.60 ± 0.05 mm
cubital indexcubital index: is a morphometric measurement of the vein comprising the bottom of the third submarginal cell, this vein is intersected from below by the second recurrent vein and the ratio is the basal portion of the vein prior to the intersection of the second recurrent vein divided by the apical portion of the vein distal to the intersection of the second recurrent vein	3.77 ± 0.12	7.64 ± 1.40	3.74 ± 0.23

Diagnostic characteristics

• Hind wing with distaldistal:
  place on a segment that is furthest from the place of attachment with the body
  abscissaabscissa:
  veins that help define wing cells
  of vein M present.
• Worker mesoscutellummesoscutellum:
  shield shaped plate behind scutum
  reddish-brown to dark brown (Fig 1, 2).
• Worker forewing length 7–9 mm.
• Worker mid and hind femorafemora:
  the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia
  light brown and mid and hind tibiaetibiae:
  the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  black (Fig 1, 3).
• Worker body color dark (Fig 1) with four conspicuous whitish tomentatomenta:
  a form of pubescence composed of short matted, woolly hair
  on metasomametasoma:
  the posterior part of the body
  (Fig 4).
• Drone daily mating period from 10:45 to 13:15 (Tingek et al. 1996Tingek et al. 1996:
  Tingek S., G. Koeniger, and N. Koeniger. 1996. Description of a new cavity-nesting species of Apis ( Apis nuluensis n.sp.) from Sabah, Borneo, with notes on its occurrence and reproductive biology. Senckenbergiana Biologica 76: 115ndash;119.).
• Drones entirely black without any yellow or rufous marks (Tingek et al. 1996Tingek et al. 1996:
  Tingek S., G. Koeniger, and N. Koeniger. 1996. Description of a new cavity-nesting species of Apis ( Apis nuluensis n.sp.) from Sabah, Borneo, with notes on its occurrence and reproductive biology. Senckenbergiana Biologica 76: 115ndash;119.).
• Drone forewing length 9.3–9.8 mm (Tingek et al. 1996Tingek et al. 1996:
  Tingek S., G. Koeniger, and N. Koeniger. 1996. Description of a new cavity-nesting species of Apis ( Apis nuluensis n.sp.) from Sabah, Borneo, with notes on its occurrence and reproductive biology. Senckenbergiana Biologica 76: 115ndash;119.).

May be confused with

The species status of Apis nuluensis has been controversial. It was proposed as a new species of honey bee by Tingek, et al. (1996) based on morphometricmorphometric:
from the Greek: &quot;morph,&quot; meaning &quot;shape,&quot; and &quot;metron,&quot; meaning &quot;measurement.&quot; Different schools of morphometrics are characterized by what aspects of biological &quot;form&quot; they are concerned with, what they choose to measure, and what kinds of biostatistical questions they ask of the measurements once they are made; such as configurations of landmarks from whole organs or organisms analyzed by appropriately invariant biometric methods (covariances of taxon, size, etc.) and in order to answer biological questions. Another sort of morphometrics studies tissue sections, measures the densities of points and curves, and uses these patterns to answer questions about the random processes that may be controlling the placement of cellular structures. A third, the method of &quot;allometry,&quot; measures sizes of separate organs and asks questions about their correlations with each other and with measures of total size. There are many others.</p
measurements. In the same year, Fuchs, et al. (1996) used a principal component analysis to show that A. nuluensis is a separate species from other sympatricsympatric:
overlapping geographic distribution
species such as A. cerana and A. koschevnikovi. In addition, Koeniger, et al. (1996) demonstrated that the drone mating period for A. nuluensis was different from that of A. koschevnikovi and just a little overlapped with that of A. cerana. In the same study, they showed that physical differences between these latter two species were enough to avoid heterospecific mating. Arias, et al. (1996), analyzing the ND2 mitochondrial gene and the intron EF-1∞, showed that A. nuluensis and A. cerana are separate but closely related species, and that A. nuluensis probably derived from A. cerana. More recently, Tanaka, et al. (2001) confirmed the species status of A. nuluensis based on molecular data, using three mitochondrial genes: 16S ribosomal RNA (16S) and cytochrome oxidases subunit 1 and 2 (CO1 and CO2).

Host associations

As with all species of honey bees, A. nuluensis is generalist and visits a broad range of plants for food.

Nesting behavior

The nesting behavior of A. nuluensis is presently unknown, but because it belongs to the subgenus Apis and is closely related to Apis cerana, it is suspected that the species nests in cavities, and that its nest has multiple parallel combs.

Distribution

This species is known from montane forests of Gunung Emas (Mount Kinabalu and Crocker Range) in the Sabah State of Malaysian Borneo; it has been only found on mountains above 1700 m.

​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

References

Arias, M.C., S. Tingek, A. Kelitu, and W.S. Sheppard, 1996. Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 and its genetic relationship with sympatricsympatric:
overlapping geographic distribution
species inferred from DNA sequences. Apidologie 27:415–422.
 
Fuchs S., N. Koeniger, and S. Tingek. 1996. The morphometricmorphometric:
from the Greek: &quot;morph,&quot; meaning &quot;shape,&quot; and &quot;metron,&quot; meaning &quot;measurement.&quot; Different schools of morphometrics are characterized by what aspects of biological &quot;form&quot; they are concerned with, what they choose to measure, and what kinds of biostatistical questions they ask of the measurements once they are made; such as configurations of landmarks from whole organs or organisms analyzed by appropriately invariant biometric methods (covariances of taxon, size, etc.) and in order to answer biological questions. Another sort of morphometrics studies tissue sections, measures the densities of points and curves, and uses these patterns to answer questions about the random processes that may be controlling the placement of cellular structures. A third, the method of &quot;allometry,&quot; measures sizes of separate organs and asks questions about their correlations with each other and with measures of total size. There are many others.</p
position of A. nuluensis (Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger) within cavity-nesting honey bees. Apidologie 27: 397–406.
 
Koeniger N., G. Koeniger, M. Gries, S. Tingek, and A. Kelitu. 1996. Reproductive isolation of Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 by species-specific mating time. Apidologie 27: 353–359.
 
Tanaka H., D.W. Roubik, M. Kato, F. Liew, and G. Gunsalam. 2001. Phylogenetic position of Apis nuluensis of northern Borneo and phylogeography of A. cerana as inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Insectes Sociaux 48:44–51.
 
Tingek S., G. Koeniger, and N. Koeniger. 1996. Description of a new cavity-nesting species of Apis (Apis nuluensis n. sp.) from Sabah, Borneo, with notes on its occurrence and reproductive biology. Senckenbergiana Biologica 76: 115–119.