‡‡ Permanently social.
Genus 27. Apis, Linnæus.
([Plate XVI.] fig. 4 ♂ ♀ ⚲.)
Apis ** e 1, Kirby.
Gen. Char.:—The neuter.—Body nearly cylindrical and subpubescent. Head transverse, about as wide as the thorax; vertex and face deeply longitudinally channelled in the centre, the latter to the apex of a small triangular elevated space between the insertion of the antennæ, and extending to the base of the clypeus, the sides of the face flat; the ocelli rather large, seated far back upon the vertex in a triangle, the anterior one in the depth of the longitudinal channel, the two lateral ones placed further back towards the occiput in a transverse indentation crossing the longitudinal one; compound eyes very pubescent; the hexagonal facets very minute; antennæ short, filiform, geniculated; the scape nearly half the length of the flagellum and subfusiform, the basal joint of the flagellum globose, the second subclavate and subequal with the remainder, very slightly lengthening to the apical joint, which is compressed and as short as the second; clypeus quadrate, convex; labrum transverse, linear, slightly waved in front; mandibles broad at the apex, edentate, obliquely truncated and concavo-convex; cibarial apparatus shortish; tongue nearly twice the length of the labium, linear, pubescent, and terminating in a small knob; paraglossæ obsolete, coadunate with the base of the tongue; labial palpi not quite so long as the tongue, the first joint four times as long as the remainder, and tapering from the base to the apex of the second joint, which is about one-fourth the length of the preceding, and has the two very short terminal joints articulated just before its acute apex; maxillæ broad, hastate; labium half the length of the tongue, its inosculation straightly transverse, not so long as the tongue and acuminate; the maxillary palpi extremely short, the basal one the shortest. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum lunulate and impending over the post-scutellum, which is transverse and linear; metathorax truncated; wings with a long marginal cell extending nearly to the end of the wing, and obtuse at its extremity, three submarginal cells which terminate at less than half the length of the marginal, the second the largest and receiving the first recurrent nervure towards its commencement, the third oblique and narrow and receiving the second recurrent nervure just beyond its centre; legs slender, subpilose; the anterior and intermediate tibiæ with a spur, their plantæ with a dense short close brush all round, the posterior tibiæ triangular, glabrous within, externally smooth, shining, and irregularly concave, the edges fringed longitudinally with long hair curving inwards, and forming the sides of the corbiculum, or basket, which conveys the matériel of the nest, the apex transverse and pectinated with short rigid setæ, but wholly without spurs; the plantæ oblong, not quite so long as the tibiæ, the sides nearly parallel, the upper edge fringed with long loose hair, subglabrous externally, but furnished internally with ten transverse, parallel rows of short stiff golden hair, with an auricle at the outer angle, forming collectively a dense brush, and its oblique apex pectinated with short stiff setæ, the remainder of the tarsal joints short, the fourth the shortest, and the claw-joint the longest; the claws short, robust, and bifid. ABDOMEN retuse at the base, subcylindrical, convex above, and terminating conically, the first segment very short, the second the longest, the ventral segments ridged longitudinally in the centre.
The FEMALE, or QUEEN differs in the head not being quite so wide as the thorax, in having the cibarial apparatus very much shorter; the mandibles distinctly bidentate, the inner edge of the inner tooth stretching obliquely to the acute inner extremity of the broad apex of the organ; the labial palpi as long as the tongue, with all the joints conterminous, the basal one slightly acuminate, the second linear, the two terminal ones more slender and shorter, the pubescence of the eyes very much longer than in the neuter; the legs more robust and less pilose; the posterior tibiæ convex externally, without the lateral fringes of hair, and their plantæ merely oblong, without the external basal auricle. The ABDOMEN is also considerably relatively longer; and has not the central ventral ridge.
The MALE or DRONE differs from both in being considerably more robust and more completely cylindrical, and very much more densely pubescent; the compound eyes contiguous at the summit, occupying the whole of the vertex, and nearly all the lateral portions of the face, extending below to the articulation of the mandibles, their pubescence much shorter but denser than in the other sex; the ocelli large, and seated at the top of the central portion of the face in a close triangle, a little above the insertion of the antennæ, and in front of the conjunction of the compound eyes, the lateral ones of the triangle being closely contiguous to the upper inner edge of those eyes; the antennæ are more robust and rather longer; the cibarial apparatus very short; the labial palpi about three-fourths the length of the tongue, and the joints conterminous, the tongue robust; the thorax is nearly quadrate; the legs are nearly naked, the four anterior very slender; the posterior tibiæ slightly curved, convex externally; the posterior plantæ more robust, and more convex externally than their tibiæ, they are regularly oblong, and without the basal auricle, the rest of the joints of the tarsi are very short. The ABDOMEN robust, and obtuse at its extremity, but its seventh segment is concealed beneath; the ventral segments concave longitudinally.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. mellifica, Linnæus. ([Plate XVI.] fig. 4 ♂♀⚲.)
mellifica, Kirby.