Eastern honey bee

The eastern honey bee (Apis cerana) is an apid native to East, South and Southeast Asia, including most of China outside Xinjiang, Korea, Japan and India, and introduced to New Guinea, Queensland and the Solomon Islands. Workers measure 10–13 mm with a proboscis about 5 mm; colonies number a few thousand to 20,000 and nest in tree hollows, rock crevices and traditional hives up to 3,000 m. The bee tolerates cold, forages early and exploits scattered nectar sources within 1–2 km. It has not been assessed by the IUCN; China listed it as a protected livestock genetic resource in 2006.