CreatureData

Giant honey bee

Apis dorsata Fabricius, 1793

Status not recordedbees wasps and ants

The giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) is an insect in the bee subgroup, placed in the family Apidae. It belongs to the order Hymenoptera, suborder Apocrita, superfamily Apoidea, subfamily Apinae, tribe Apini and genus Apis.

Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Photo: Original uploader was Bksimonb at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the giant honey bee

The scientific name Apis dorsata carries the authority Fabricius, 1793, and the Catalogue of Life lists the species as living, not extinct.

Weight
Not recorded
Length
1.7 cm – 2 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the giant honey bee?

GIANT HONEY BEE · LENGTH 2 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2 cm, the recorded maximum length of the giant honey bee is about 1.2% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the giant honey bee

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Afsar Nayakkan · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Afsar Nayakkan · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Afsar Nayakkan · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Eric Knight · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Ong Jyh Seng · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Ong Jyh Seng · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
Ong Jyh Seng · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the giant honey bee live?

Not recorded

What is the giant honey bee?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Apis dorsata, the rock bee or giant honey bee, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia. They are typically around 17–20 mm (0.7–0.8 in) long and nests are mainly built in exposed places far off the ground, like on tree limbs, under cliff overhangs, and under buildings. These social bees are known for their aggressive defense strategies and vicious behavior when disturbed. Though the species is not domesticated, indigenous peoples have traditionally used it as a source of honey and beeswax, a practice known as honey hunting.

From the Wikipedia article “Apis dorsata” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apis_dorsata&oldid=1380004106), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the giant honey bee endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the giant honey bee classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderHymenoptera
  5. familyApidae
  6. genusApis
  7. SpeciesApis dorsata Fabricius, 1793

Synonyms Apis bicolor, Apis dorsata indica, Apis dorsata torsada, Apis nigripennis, Apis testacea, Apis zonata, Megapis dorsata, Megapis zonata

Other names and names in other languages (27)
  • نحل العسل العملاقArabic
  • PutyokanBikol
  • বৃহৎ মৌমাছিBangla
  • Abella de la Mel GegantCatalan
  • včela zlatáCzech
  • RiesenhonigbieneGerman
  • abeja asiática grandeSpanish
  • Abeille géanteFrench
  • મોટી મધમાખીGujarati
  • महासारस मधुमक्खीHindi
  • Ape gigante dell'IndiaItalian
  • オオミツバチJapanese
  • Didžioji medunešė bitėLithuanian
  • KjempehonningbieNorwegian Bokmål
  • reuzenhoningbijDutch
  • pszczoła olbrzymiaPolish
  • Индийская большая пчелаRussian
  • බඹර මැස්සාSinhala
  • orjaška čebelaSlovenian
  • மலைத்தேனீTamil
  • பெரிய தேனீTamil
  • పెద్ద తేనెటీగTelugu
  • ผึ้งหลวงThai
  • PukyutanFilipino
  • Dev Bal ArısıTurkish
  • Ong khoáiVietnamese
  • 大蜜蜂Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidata

Relatives of the giant honey bee

Other species in the same genus Apis.

CompareGiant honey bee vs Western honey beeGiant honey bee vs Asian honey beeGiant honey bee vs Asian dwarf honey beeGiant honey bee vs Himalayan honey bee

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What is the scientific name of the giant honey bee?

The scientific name of the giant honey bee is Apis dorsata.

What kind of animal is the giant honey bee?

The giant honey bee is an insect in the bee subgroup, belonging to the class Insecta and the order Hymenoptera.

What family does the giant honey bee belong to?

The giant honey bee belongs to the family Apidae, within the subfamily Apinae and the tribe Apini.

Who named the giant honey bee and when?

The name Apis dorsata was given by Fabricius in 1793, written as Fabricius, 1793.

Is the giant honey bee extinct?

No, the giant honey bee is living and not extinct, according to the Catalogue of Life.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-honey-bee

MLA

“Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-honey-bee.

BibTeX
@misc{giant_honey_bee_2026,
  title = {Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-honey-bee},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}