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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bee Sci.
Sec. Bee Physiology
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frbee.2024.1374852
This article is part of the Research Topic Biology of Giant Honeybees View all 4 articles

Submitted to: Frontiers in Bee Science-Special issue on giant honey bees The distribution of Apis laboriosa revisited: range extensions, biogeographic affinities, and species distribution modeling

Provisionally accepted
Gard W. Otis Gard W. Otis 1,2*Man-Juan Huang Man-Juan Huang 3Nyaton Kitnya Nyaton Kitnya 4,5Umer A. Sheikh Umer A. Sheikh 6Chinh H. Phung Chinh H. Phung 7Abu ul H. Faiz Abu ul H. Faiz 8Natapot Warrit Natapot Warrit 10,9Yan-Qiong Peng Yan-Qiong Peng 3Xin Zhou Xin Zhou 11Hliang M. Oo Hliang M. Oo 12Namoona Acharya Namoona Acharya 13
  • 1 University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
  • 2 Institute of Bee Health, Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Mengla, Yunnan, China
  • 4 Himalayan University, Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh, India
  • 5 Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, Sonipat, India
  • 6 University of Poonch Rawalakot, Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
  • 7 Mountain Bee Development JSC, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 8 Women University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Bagh, Kotli, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
  • 9 Department of Biology and Center of Excellence in Entomology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 10 Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
  • 11 Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
  • 12 University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, Yezin, Myanmar
  • 13 Tulsipur Sub Metropolitan City Ward no. 12, Tulsipur, Nepal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Apis laboriosa, the Himalayan giant honeybee, inhabits the foothills of the Himalaya and neighboring mountainous regions. Here we revise its distribution in light of recent reports and discoveries. Several gaps in its range detected in previous studies have been filled with our more extensive data set. The range now extends from longitude 105.9°E in Cao Bang, Vietnam, in the east to 74.4°E in the Pir Panjal Range of western Himalaya, a linear distance of 3300 km, and from latitude 19.2°N in Nghe An, Vietnam and 20.1°N in Chiang Mai, Thailand to 34.8°N in Azad Jammu and Kashmir-Pakistan, with the most notable new localities in northeastern Vietnam, central Myanmar, northern Thailand, and AJK-Pakistan. The species generally occurs at lower elevations in the eastern part of its range than in Nepal, northern India, and the border region between India and Pakistan. Nearly all of the new localities in mainland Asia are within the range predicted by our species distribution modelling. We discuss the documented range extensions, review the terrestrial ecoregions in which the species occurs, contrast our species distribution model with a previous one, and highlight the remaining regions that may harbor this spectacular honey bee species.

    Keywords: Apis laboriosa, Megapis, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Ecoregion, Range map, Species distribution modeling

    Received: 22 Jan 2024; Accepted: 11 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Otis, Huang, Kitnya, Sheikh, Phung, Faiz, Warrit, Peng, Zhou, Oo and Acharya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gard W. Otis, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.