Apis mellifera (Italian bee)

Family Apidae/ subspecies

Living in the ground level to low-to-intermediate altitude mountains, the Italian bee is commonly seen to collect nectar from the wildflowers at the roadsides. The wild Italian bee mostly dwells in tree trunk pores or rock wall cracks. A beehive can house hundreds of bees. It has yellow brown chest fine hair, yellow brown abdominal lateral stripes, flat and hairy, and hind tibias capable of carrying nectars. Its appearance is similar to that of the Chinese bee, with darker shades on its mesonotum and conspicuous stripes on the abdomen.

　　Photographed by Huang Shu-jen