สำนักงานราชบัณฑิตยสภา

วิ วั ฒนาการ อนุกรมวิ ธาน และการกระจายตั วของผึ้ งในประเทศไทย 140 The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Vol. 39 No. 2 April-June 2014 Abstract Evolution, Taxonomy and Distribution of Bees in Thailand Siriwat Wongsiri Associate Fellow of the Academy of Science, The Royal Institute, Thailand Sitthipong Wongwilas Mahidol University Nakhonsawan Campus The evolution of social insects began at least 300 million years ago, especially termites. Termites are one of the insects that have true social life. Their ancestors had co-evolution period with the ancestors of wild cockroaches. On the contrary, the evolu- tions of Hymenopteras which have real social life and are high class insects, especially bees’ ancestors, are dated back only 80-120 million years. Bees under Apis genus are high social life insects and have the most advanced evolution. Their population is classified into different castes based on individual work tasks. The evolution of Apis bee began no less than 20-30 million years ago. Apis spp. are bees that produce honey which are divided into 9 species: Apis florea, Apis andreniformis, Apis laboriosa, Apis dorsata, Apis cerana, Apis nigrocincta, Apis koschevnikovi, Apis nuluensis and Apis mellifera. Keywords: evolution, social insects, fossil, bee