Apidologie 26 (1995) 387-394
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19950504

A morphological comparison of the dwarf honey bees of southeastern Thailand and Palawan, Philippines

T.E. Rinderer^a, B.P. Oldroyd^a, S. Wongsiri^b, H.A. Sylvester^a, L.I. de Guzman^c, J.A. Stelzer^a and R.M. Riggio<sup>c

a</sup>  USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Honey-Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, 1157, Ben Hur Rd, Baton Rouge, LA 70820 USA
^b  Bee Biology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
^c  Dept of Entomology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70893, USA

Abstract - Morphological descriptions using measurements common to honey bee taxonomy are provided for Apis andreniformis Smith (1858) from southeastern Thailand and Palawan, Philippines and Apis florea Fabricius (1787) from southeastern Thailand. Overall, A andreniformis has a very different morphology from the sympatric A florea and from all other well-described species of honey bees. One difference, the color of the scutellum, although not species specific, is sufficient in many cases to facilitate field identifications. Very few morphological differences occurred between the Thai and the Philippine populations of A andreniformis.

Key words: Asian bees / Apis andreniformis / Apis florea / morphometry / population genetics / Thailand / Philippines