An Encounter With A Colony of Red Dwarf Honeybees at the Al Hajjar Mountains

Red Dwarf Honey Bees are important pollinators in their natural habitat

Red Dwarf Honey Bees build their colony on branches of trees

These honey bees build a single comb hive 

Workers formed a defensive curtain of bees to protect the comb 

A worker bee foraging at the nearby Acacia tree

A close-up video of the Red Dwarf Honey Bee Colony

During a recent expedition in a wadi at Sefai, RAK, along the winding trails of the Al Hajjar Mountains, I observed a large, dark-colored, actively-moving clump of insects hanging on a branch of a tree. It's a new colony of the Red Dwarf Honey Bees or Asian Dwarf Honey Bees taking shape under the shade of a branch! The worker bees were taking advantage of the availability of Acacia flowers in bloom across the wadi! It was so awesome that I was able to come close to the hive (literally inches away) to observe and document this experience. What a wonderful sight under the simmering desert sun! 

The Red Dwarf Honey Bees or Asian Dwarf Honey Bees (Apis florea) play an important ecological role as pollinators in their natural habitats. They pollinate not just the forest plants and trees, but also important agricultural fruit trees. 

They are smaller in size (7-10mm in length) than the domestic honey bees (Apis mellifera). The adults are red-brown in color with white and black bands on the abdomen. 

Distribution of Red Dwarf Honey Bees

These bees are found in Asia and in Africa (eastern Sudan), mainly in Southeast Asia, Northeast India, China and in the Middle East. In the United Arab Emirates they are considered as the main natural pollinator bee species.

Biodynamics Notes

These bees are NOT AGGRESSIVE and are HARMLESS TO HUMANS. 

The worker bees construct a single comb suspended on a tree branch. The comb is usually 25cm across. The comb is defended by a curtain of bees 3-4 bees deep. At least 3/4 of the colony's worker population are engaged in the formation of this living protective curtain. 

When disturbed, the bees exhibit a "shimmering movement", wherein the individual bees shake their abdomen side to side in a synchronous manner, a prominent hissing sound is also produce (Now that is a different level of a shake off).  

To combat against ant attacks, the worker bees coat the ends of the branch which supports the nest with layers of propolis or plant gum. This anti-ant layer is 2.5 to 4cm wide. Only Apis florea is the bee species that utilizes this defensive strategy.

Another unique habit that the Red Dwarf Honey Bees exhibit, is that if they are building a new nest near their old one, they salvage the wax from the old comb and use it in the new one. (REUSE AND RECYCLE Honey Bee Style). Other honey bee species do not exhibit this behavior. 

It is important to note that when the colony is greatly disturbed, the bees readily abandon the site and move on to a new location.    

The Red Dwarf Honey Bee colony is small (only a few thousand bees), it produces a single comb with little amounts of honey (just a few hundred grams of honey per colony). They have not been domesticated for honey production and for pollination services YET!

Calling the attention of Pest Management Professionals (PMPs), let us be BEE FRIENDLY! Avoid spraying the hives and killing the bees! Let us give bees the chance to thrive! Let us educate the public that this bee species is not going to attack and harm them. If hive removal is inevitable, contact a professional beekeeper or your local beekeeping association for proper colony removal. The ecological benefits from these awesome pollinators far outweigh our fear of being stung!   

This bee colony encounter was truly awesome! It stimulated further my curiosity for bees and my appetite for sweet, sweet HONEY!

Awesome creatures! Awesome CREATOR!

"A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey inside" (Winnie The Pooh)