Both the bees were generally identified as Apis florea, and most information still relates to this species prior to the 1990s. However, the distinctiveness of the two species A. florea and A. andreniformis was established unequivocally in the 1990s. A. florea is redder and the first abdomen is always red in an old worker (younger workers are paler in colour, as is the case in giant honey bees); A. andreniformis is in general darker and the first abdomen segment is totally black in old bees.[3]