Colonizing the east and the west: distribution and niche properties of a dwarf Asian honey bee invading Africa, the Middle East, the Malay Peninsula, and Taiwan

Species invasions are expected to increase continuously with undeniable impact upon native biodiversity, being an important process in relation to the decline of native pollinators. We used species distribution models and multivariate analyses to assess the climatic niche properties of the red dwarf honey bee, Apis florea Fabricius (Apidae: Apini), an open-nesting species native to southern Asia and parts of the Middle East, currently invading...