Abstract: Apis honeybees are commonly described in most apiculture literature to have only four species:A pis cerana,A.mellifera,A.dorsata,and A.florea.Using isoelectric focusing electrophoresis with polyacrylamide gel,we analyzed the esterase isozymes of the fore-mentioned species and two rare species being A.loboriosa and A.and reniformis.Results showed that the esterase zymograms are different in all the six species,indicating that the two rare species have distinct characters,so there are six species of Apis,instead of four.

Key words: Apis, Biochmical identification