Wallace and The Bees

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
VOL LXXI NO.92 DECEMBER 2013

Title :
Wallace and The Bees

Author :
Stephen Petersen

Abstract:

Alfred Russel Wallace spent eight years collecting natural history specimens in the Indo-Malayan region from 1854-1862. The historical climate at the time was characterised by several conflict “scuffles”, a collecting mania was sweeping Victorian England, and many of our contemporary sciences were in their nascent stages. Facing logistical andt ransportation hurdles Wallace was able to collect more than 125,000 specimens for shipment back to England and classification by experts in the particular Families and Orders resulting in numerous papers publsihed in scientific journals. Wallace is recognised as the “co-discover”, along with Charles Darwin, of the theory of evolution and principles of natural selection. Among his collections were the type specimens of several new species of bees both honey bees (Apis spp.) and other Hymenoptera; descriptions and subsequent naming by Frederick Smith provide the earliest record of (to name only a few), Apis andreniformis, Apis nigrocincta. Apis dorsata binghami, Chalicodoma pluto and most likely Apis koschevnikovi.This article reviews a few of his bee discoveries and presents them in the light of modern accepted nomenclature.

DOI:
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How to cite:
Stephen Petersen. (2013). Wallace and The Bees. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXXI (92) : 255-270

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