Asian Honey Bee

Description:

Hymenoptera; Apidae; Apis cerana Fabricius, 1793. "Apis cerana, the eastern honey bee, Asiatic honey bee or Asian honey bee, is a species of honey bee native to South, Southeast and East Asia." Wikipedia.

Habitat:

This hive of honey bees was discovered at the rice mill when my wife instructed her workers to carry out some routine maintenance on the the water system. When a hatch was opened, to inspect some pipework, there was an audible gasp of surprise. So we rushed over to find out what was happening and saw the honey combs and thousands of bees. The hatch was replaced and the maintenance was postponed for another 6 months to give the bees time to migrate to another spot.

Notes:

When the maintenance was eventually carried out, the bees were long gone.