Apis laboriosa

Apis laboriosa, the Himalayan giant honey bee, is the largest of the honey bee species, with adult workers reaching up to 3 centimeters in length. It is confined largely to the Himalayas, nesting in mountainous regions of Bhutan, the Chinese province of Yunnan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, typically between 2,500 and 3,000 meters in altitude, though it forages as high as 4,100 meters. Its taxonomic status has shifted more than once: it was first described as a subspecies of Apis dorsata, was raised to full species status in 1980, was reclassified as a subspecies again in 1999, and was confirmed as a distinct species in 2020 after researchers found it coexisting with Apis dorsata at the same sites with no sign of interbreeding. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/