The Sulawesian Honey Bee

Apis nigrocincta Smith 1861
Apis mellifica indica var picea Buttel-Reepen 1906
Apis (Sigmatapis) nigrocincta marginella Maa 1953

Literature: Hadisoesilo et al. 1995, Hadisoesilo and Otis 1996, 1998, Hadisoesilo 1997.

Distribution: endemic to Sulawezi.

Diagnose. The drone cells of A. nigrocincta are soft and lack pores, unlike those of A. cerana which are always herdened and have pores. Drones of A. cerana always took their mating flights about 2 hr earlier than do drones of A. nigrocincta, with little overlap in the distributions of flight times. The distributions of A. cerana and A. nigrocincta are largely allopatric, with narrow zone of overlap. In Central Sulawezi, the abrupt transition corresponds to the restriction of A. nigrocincta to forests and of A. cerana to disturbed agricultural areas. The male genitalia of both species are similar. (source: Hadisoesilo 1997).