Phylogeography of dwarf honeybees, Apis florea and A. andreniformis

Dwarf honeybees are the most basal group within the genus Apis. We investigated phylogeography of the two species using mitochondrial COI, COII, a tRNA and non-coding sequences. We found an eastern and western lineage within A. florea, with the boundary between Bangladesh and Burma. The two populations may have been separated by episodes of Pleistocene glaciation, diverging in isolation. We also found two branches within A. andreniformis, one on mainland Asia and the other on Sundaic islands. These two intra-specific lineages were probably separated by rising sea levels during warmer Pleistocene interglacials. The divergence between the A. florea lineages is greater than divergence between A. andreniformis lineages, suggesting that the split between the A. florea lineages is older than that between the two A. andreniformis lineages.