Apis dorsata
Fabricius, 1793 · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Apis dorsata's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation17 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility7 742 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI341 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics324 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Apis dorsata, the giant honey bee, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia, found mainly in forested areas such as the Terai of Nepal. They are typically around 17 - long. Nests are mainly built in exposed places far off the ground, like on tree limbs, under cliff overhangs, and sometimes on buildings. These social bees are known for their aggressive defense strategies and vicious behavior when disturbed. Though not domesticating it, indigenous peoples have traditionally used this species as a source of honey and beeswax, a practice known as honey hunting.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology5
Compounds documented for Apis dorsata across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile3 classes
Documented compounds10 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (22E)-3b-Hydroxy-ergosta-5,22-dien-7-one | present | NPASS | |
| (24S)-Ergost-4-en-3-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3S,8S,9S,10R,13R,14S,17R)-3-hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl-17-[(2R)-6-methyl-5-methylideneheptan-2-yl]-1,2,3,4,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-7-one | present | NPASS | |
| 2-Decenyl acetate | present | LOTUS | |
| 22,23-Dihydrobrassicasterol | present | NPASS | |
| 24-Methylenecholesterol | present | NPASS | |
| Acetic acid trans-2-decen-1-YL ester | present | LOTUS | |
| Ergosta-4,22-diene-3-one | present | NPASS | |
| Ergosta-4,24(28)-dien-3-one | present | NPASS | |
| SEWFWJUQVJHATO-SDGSVMRYSA-N | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Apis dorsata has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Apis dorsata carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 323×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · TreeOfSex · invert
2n 161×GoaT · Tree of Sex Database
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type7 742 records
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions10 of 19 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Wuzhou, CN | 165 |
| Toronto, CA | 97 |
| New Haven, US | 62 |
| Cambridge, US | 43 |
| Champaign, US | 22 |
| 20 | |
| National Institute of Biological Resourceslocation not on record | 10 |
| Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 9 |
| OSUClocation not on record | 8 |
| Washington, US | 8 |
| Sydney, AU | 7 |
| WIlocation not on record | 4 |
| DPIlocation not on record | 3 |
| Beltsville, US | 1 |
| National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineeringlocation not on record | 1 |
| Gujarat Biodiversity Gene Banklocation not on record | 1 |
| Colorado State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| UNHClocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Apis dorsata was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.