53. Apis nigrocincta Smith, 1860

Fig. 52

Apis nigrocincta Smith, 1860a: 93, ♀.

Type material examined

Holotype

INDONESIA • ♀; Mak. [ Makassar, Sulawesi]; [11 Jul.–19 Nov. 1857]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2810.

Type locality

Makassar [south-west Sulawesi].

Notes

The specimen is labelled “Mak. 18”. Examination of Wallace’s 3 rd notebook (Beccaloni 2025) reveals the following information:

“At muddy places nearly dry. abundant about sap of Palms. Apis nigrocincta . Sm. ”.

Baker (1993: 201) wrote the following:

“ Two ♀♀ standing as nigrocincta in the UMO type collection are labelled:

a) ‘Mak. 18.’ [blue disc] and ‘ Apis nigrocincta Smith’ [blue paper].

b) ‘N. [MS addition] China. [print]’.

Specimen (a) is clearly the HOLOTYPE of nigrocincta and it has now been labelled accordingly: specimen (b) has been labelled as of no type status. The type is intact but has been wetted”.

Baker then wrote about the synonymy of A. nigrocincta with Apis cerana Fabricius, 1793, but this has been made redundant by subsequent works (Hadisoesilo & Otis 1996; Damus & Otis 1997). The specimen indicated by Baker was not labelled as the holotype; this has now been rectified. The year of publication is incorrectly given as 1861 in some publications (e.g., Hadisoesilo & Otis 1996).

Current status

Apis nigrocincta Smith, 1860 (Hadisoesilo & Otis 1996; Damus & Otis 1997).

Distribution

Indonesia (Sulawesi, Sangihe) and Philippines (Mindanao) (Hadisoesilo & Otis 1996; Damus & Otis 1997; Ascher & Pickering 2024).