Apis koschevnikovi

Taxonomy

Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Apini Latreille, 1802
Genus: Apis Linnaeus, 1758
Subgenus: Apis (Apis) Linnaeus, 1758
Species: Apis koschevnikovi Enderlein, 1906
Common names: red honey bee, red hive bee, red cavity nesting honey bee

Overview

Apis koschevnikovi is somewhat distinctive due to its reddish metasoma and legs. It is also known as the red bee of Sabah; however, according to Hadisoesilo et al. (2008), its color changes with its distribution. It is pale reddish in the Sabah State or Borneo, Malaysia, but it has a dark, more coppery color in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Indonesia. The body size of the worker is moderate (forewing length between 7.5–9 mm). Drones of A. koschevnikovi have a mating flight time that is different to the sympatric A. cerana drones (Koeniger et al. 1988). A. koschevnikovi is the host of the mite Varroa rinderi (De Guzman and Delfinado-Baker 1996).

Diagnostic characteristics

Hind wing with distal abscissa of vein M present (same as in Apis cerana).
Mesoscutellum of the female worker yellowish-red (Fig 3 and 10).
Drones with hairy fringe on the margin of the metatibia (setae along the posterior edge are much longer than the others) and with tarsi unmodified (Fig 8).
Drones with unique endophallus (Tingek et al. 1988).
Sting apparatus with 10 lancet barbs and 4 pairs of stylet barbs (Jayasvasti and Wongsiri 1993) (Fig 11).
Distance from tip of lancet to the first barb = 45.30µm (Jayasvasti and Wongsiri 1993).

Host associations

As with all species of honey bees, A. koschevnikovi is a generalist and will exploit a large variety of plant resources for food.

Nesting behavior

Like all species in the subgenus Apis (Apis), nests of A. koschevnikovi are built in cavities (Rinderer et al. 1989). Drone cell caps have a distinctive pore. Very little is known about the biology, ecology, and natural history of this species (Rinderer et al. 1989); however, Engel (2012) reported that it prefers tropical evergreen forests.

Distribution

The red honey bee can be found in Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Kalimatan (Tingek et al. 1996, Radloff et al. 2011, Gupta 2014). According to Rinderer (1988), the range and the population size of A. koschevnikovi are among the most important issues that require study for this species.

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