Drones of Apis dorsata (Fabricius 1793) congregate under the canopy of tall emergent trees in Borneo.

The drones of Apis dorsata performed their mating flights at dusk. They took off simultaneously from the colonies. The flying drones produced a distinct hum which was clearly audible. By following this flight noise on several consecutive days, a drone congregation area (DCA) was located under the canopy of a high emergent tree. There, the drone's hum was regularly heard at the expected time and several A dorsata drones were caught. Under the canopy the drones were attracted to a queen dummy impregnated with queen pheromone. Dummies outside the canopy or above the tree did not attract any drones. Further, drone attractivity showed a clear maximum several meters below the canopy. Under the canopy of other emergent tall trees three more DCAs were detected. At another place one observation on a slope of a mountain resulted in the detection of a DCA downhill in the valley. No drones were found under tall trees on the slope. In A mellifera and A cerana the factors that cause the drones to congregate at a distinct place are still unknown. So, the clear feature of the A dorsata DCA in Borneo involving a landmark is unique. Observations from other parts of the extended natural distribution of A dorsata in Asia are required to confirm whether the drones of this species generally congregate under the canopy of emergent tall trees

Reproductive isolation by different time of drone flight between Apis cerana (Fabricius, 1793) and Apis vechti (Maa, 1953)

In Sri Lanka the three honeybee species Apis florea, Apis cerana and Apis dorsata are found in the same biotope. The daily periods of drone flight were found to be specific O( ENIKGER and AW-YALGUN1ASE K,ERA 1976). According to NT RUETR (1988) this behavioral isolation is a more complete separation than the reproductive barrier between A. mellifera and A. cerana. The three honeybees, A. cerana, A. vechti and A. dorsata are naturally distributed in the same habitat. We compared the time of drone flight between these honeybees in Sabah (North East Borneo)

The morphometric position of Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 within cavity-nesting honey bees

Morphological features of nine samples of Apis nuluensis collected at the region of Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia in mountainous areas ranging from 1 524 to 3 400 m were analysed using 38 characteristics. Seventeen measurements of sizes, ten of coloration and hairyness, and 11 of wing venation angles were measured according to the methods of Ruttner et al (1978). The morphological position was evaluated within a frame containing other cavity-nesting Apis species drawn from the Oberursel data bank (Apis cerana from four Asian locations, Apis koschevnikovi, Apis nigrocincta and two equatorial Apis mellifera races). A nuluensis shows some extreme characteristics which separate it from all other cavity-nesting bees, or all A cerana groups. In size measures it is closest to A nigrocincta from Sulawesi, while wing venation measures are close to the northern A cerana groups. Factor analysis showed A nuluensis to be clearly and significantly distinct from each of the other groups on at least two of the first three principal component axes. In discriminant analysis, all A nuluensis samples were assigned to their group with high probability. In particular, A nuluensis clearly differed from the sympatric groups, A cerana from Borneo and A koschevnikovi. In relation to A cerana in general, and to the sympatric A cerana from Borneo, this distinctness is less pronounced than that of A koschevnikovi, while the results from wing venation angles alone gave the opposite result

A scientific note on weight and sperm numbers of drones of Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996

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Mating flights, number of spermatozoa, sperm transfer and degree of polyandry in Apis koschevnikovi (Buttel-Reepen, 1906)

In Apis koschevnikovi drones and queens leave the colony for mating. Drones left the hive between 16.45 h and 18.30 h. The flight duration of drones varied between less than 1 min and 27 min. Drone flights longer than 10 min occurred mainly at the end of the flight time between 17.45 h and 18.15 h. Queens left the hive between 17.00 h and 18.15 h. Here, too, mating flights (return with a mating sign) occurred at the end of the flight period (17.53 h and 18.29 h). The flight duration of these flights was 19 ± 5 min. The oviducts of queens with a mating sign contained 12-21 mio spermatozoa after one mating flight. Since a mature drone has 1.7 ± 0.16 mio spermatozoa, this indicated multiple mating with 7-12 drones during one flight. The spermathecae contained 2-3 mio spermatozoa. The mating sign had no chitin plates. A comparison of reproductive data resulted in close similarities between A cerana and A koschevnikovi

Piping by queens of Apis cerana Fabricius 1793 and Apis koschevnikovi v Buttel-Reepen 1906

Piping queens of Apis cerana and A koschevnikovi were recorded in Sabah, Malaysia. The tooting calls of the 2 species were similar and consisted of a single continuous call lasting 2-5 s. In contrast, A mellifera queens give a 1-2 s tone followed by several shorter tones. Quacking by an A koschevnikovi queen in a queen cell was very similar to the quacking reported for A mellifera except the tempo was more rapid (4.39 quacks/s vs 3.0 quacks/s)

Apis nulensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 and its genetic relationship with sympatric species inferred from DNA sequences

Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger is a new species recently described by Tingek et al (1996) on the basis of morphological and behavioral characters. To understand the genetic relationship between the new species and sympatric species of the A cerana group from Borneo two different DNA regions of nuclear (EF-1a intron) and mitochondrial (ND2 gene) origin were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses of the sequences indicate that A nuluensis and A cerana are sister taxa. The apparent paraphyly of A cerana with respect to A nuluensis, may result from relatively recent speciation of A nuluensis from the isolated A cerana population of Borneo. However, further studies of A cerana across its range are needed to clarify the status of Bornean populations

Interspecific rearing and acceptance of queens between Apis cerana Fabricius, 1793 and Apis koschevnikovi Buttel-Reepen, 1906

Artificial queen cells with grafted young worker larvae of Apis cerana and Apis koschevnikovi were simultaneously introduced into queenless colonies of either A cerana and A koschevnikovi. All colonies preferred to rear conspecific larvae. The degree of this larval preference was different: A cerana colonies were more selective than A koschevnikovi colonies against alien larvae. In contrast, the A koschevnikovi colonies destroyed most of the introduced mature A cerana queen cells and killed all the queens that were able to emerge. A long term acceptance of alien queens occurred in A cerana colonies. The A koschevnikovi queens performed successful mating flights from A cerana colonies and the time of mating flights of these queens did not differ from A koschevnikovi queens flying from conspecific colonies. The mated A koschevnikovi queens laid eggs and the emerged bees were successfully reared by the A cerana worker bees. The A cerana host colonies were gradually transformed into A koschevnikovi colonies

Apis nulensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 and its genetic relationship with sympatric species inferred from DNA sequences

Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger is a new species recently described by Tingek et al (1996) on the basis of morphological and behavioral characters. To understand the genetic relationship between the new species and sympatric species of the A cerana group from Borneo, two different DNA regions of nuclear (EF-1α intron) and mitochondrial (ND2 gene) origin were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses of the sequences indicate that A nuluensis and A cerana are sister taxa. The apparent paraphyly of A cerana with respect to A nuluensis, may result from relatively recent speciation of A nuluensis from the isolated A cerana population of Borneo. However, further studies of A cerana across its range are needed to clarify the status of Bornean populations