Ecosystem Services of Social Insects

Abstract

In the description of the genus Apis in the eighteenth century, four species were recognized: the ▶ western honey bee Apis mellifera, eastern cavity nesting honey bee Apis cerana, ▶ dwarf honey bee Apis florea, and ▶ giant honey bee Apis dorsata. This remained the generally accepted view until recently. Each of these names was known to appl y t o physically variable populations, but in each case they were regarded as intraspecific variation over large geographic areas. Today, through the direct study of reproductive isolation and strong indirect evidence of such isolation , there is a consensus that only the western bee is a single species over its very broad range, while each of the other three original "species" is in fact at least two distinct species. At present, four species of eastern cavity-nesting bees are recognized: A. cerana, A. koschevnikovi, A. nigrocincta, and A. nuluensis [5, 6].