Apis florea
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The dwarf honey bee (or red dwarf honey bee), Apis florea, is one of two species of small, wild honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, Apis andreniformis. First identified in the late 18th century, Apis florea is unique for its morphology, foraging behavior and defensive mechanisms like making a piping noise. Apis florea have open nests and small colonies, which makes them more susceptible to predation than cavity nesters with large numbers of defensive workers. The species is an important pollinator in many parts of its range and its nests are occasionally exploited as a source of wild honey.
Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius first identified Apis florea in 1787. A. florea is a member of the Apis genus. The name Florea is a personal name of Romanian origin. A. florea and its sister species A. andreniformis together form the subclade Micrapis and are the most basal extant species of honey bees, diverging before the two other extant honey bee clades, Megapis (the giant honey bees) and Apis (the eastern and western honey bees and their close relatives). The timing of the Micrapis species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 2 | Davao City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 3 | Doha | 🇶🇦 Qatar | |
| 4 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 5 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 6 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 7 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 8 | Dubai | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 9 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red Dwarf Honey Bee sighting in Kolkata on a given day, based on 22 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 83rd most-seen of the 213 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May and December–January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red Dwarf Honey Bee in Kolkata on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and September, the lowest months. Those are among Kolkata's driest months, with about 55 mm of rain a month against 330 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Dwarf Honey Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
27th of 32
Of the 32 cities where we can rate Red Dwarf Honey Bee sightings, Kolkata ranks 27th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 60%), Davao City (Philippines, about 50%) and Doha (Qatar, about 50%).
Same genus: Apis
The closest relatives of the Red Dwarf Honey Bee that you can see in Kolkata (genus Apis, Honey Bees) are Giant Honey Bee (about 20%) and Asian Honey Bee (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red Dwarf Honey Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Kolkata (22 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
