Comb Morphometry of Apis florea Colony Detected in Malta

The red dwarf honey bee Apis florea Fabricius 1787, a single open comb constructing honey bee native to Asia, has been expanding its distributional range to Africa and Europe, and also reportedly intercepted in Western Australia. The first fully established colony of A. florea in Europe was found in Malta in 2024 near its shipping freeport to the south. The comb was collected, stored, and analysed morphometrically. The following morphometric measurements are reported in this paper: height and width of the comb; surface area of the comb (including crest, worker brood, and drone brood); depth, diameter, and volume of the cells (worker brood, drone brood, and crest); and the angle of the comb against the vertical. The cell measurements were concordant with other cell measurements found in the literature. These data might serve as a reference point for future studies, focusing on comparison of comb morphometry between native and introduced colonies.