Worldwide pollinator declines have dramatically increased our need to survey and monitor pollinator distributions and abundances. The giant honey bee, Apis laboriosa, is one of the important pollinators at higher altitudes of the Himalayas. This species has a restricted distribution along the Himalayas and neighbouring mountain ranges of Asia. Previous assessments of its distribution, published more than 20 years ago, were based on museum specimens. Since then, 244 additional localities have been revealed through field trips by the authors, publications, and websites. We present a revised distribution for A. laboriosa that better defines its range and extends it eastward to the mountains of northern Vietnam, southward along the Arakan Mountains to west-central Myanmar, into the Shillong Hills of Meghalaya, India, and northwestward in Uttarakhand, India. This species is generally found at elevations between 1000–3000 m a.s.l.. In northeastern India A. laboriosa colonies occur during summer at sites as low as 850 m a.s.l. and some lower elevation colonies maintain their nests throughout the winter. Finally, we report three regions in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and nine locations in northern Vietnam, where we observed workers of A. laboriosa and A. dorsata foraging sympatrically; their co-occurrence supports the species status of Apis laboriosa.

中文翻译：

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巨型蜜蜂的地理分布 Apis Laboriosa Smith，1871 年（膜翅目，蜂科）。

全球传粉媒介的减少大大增加了我们调查和监测传粉媒介分布和丰度的需求。巨型蜜蜂Apis Laboriosa是喜马拉雅山高海拔地区的重要传粉媒介之一。该物种在喜马拉雅山脉和亚洲邻近山脉的分布有限。20 多年前发表的对其分布的先前评估是基于博物馆标本。从那时起，作者、出版物和网站通过实地考察发现了另外 244 个地点。我们提出了 A.laboriosa 的修订分布，它更好地定义了它的范围，并将其向东扩展到越南北部的山区，向南沿阿拉干山脉扩展到缅甸中西部，进入印度梅加拉亚邦的西隆山，以及北阿坎德邦的西北部，印度。该物种通常出现在海拔 1000-3000 米之间。在印度东北部，A.laboriosa 殖民地在夏季出现在海拔 850 米的低处，一些低海拔的殖民地在整个冬季都保持着它们的巢穴。最后，我们报告了印度阿鲁纳恰尔邦的三个地区和越南北部的九个地点，我们观察到 A.laboriosa 和 A.dorsata 的工人同域觅食；它们的共同出现支持了Apis Laboriosa的物种地位。在那里我们观察到 A.laboriosa 和 A.dorsata 的工人同域觅食；它们的共同出现支持了Apis Laboriosa的物种地位。在那里我们观察到 A.laboriosa 和 A.dorsata 的工人同域觅食；它们的共同出现支持了Apis Laboriosa的物种地位。