Shimmering

Definition

Individual bees on the surface of an Apis dorsata or Apis laboriosa comb flip their abdomens upward in sequence, producing a visible wave that travels across the nest. It deters hornets effectively and is one of the more striking collective behaviours in any insect. Giant honey bees nest in the open with no cavity to defend them, so the display is part of a defensive repertoire that also includes committing very large numbers of workers.

Where the word gets used loosely

It is a warning rather than a curiosity, and should be read as one by anyone standing near a nest.

Bee records that discuss this

• Asian honey beeThe western honey bee's counterpart across Asia, and a bee whose importance is out of all proportion to its honey yield. Apis cerana is the original host of Varroa destructor — the mite that has reshaped beekeeping worldwide — and it lives with the parasite without collapse. Understanding how is one of the more consequential open questions in apiculture.
• Giant honey beeThe largest honey bee in the world, and the one that cannot be kept. Apis dorsata builds a single enormous open comb hanging from a branch or a cliff overhang, defends it ferociously, migrates hundreds of kilometres seasonally, and has defeated every serious attempt to hive it. It produces a great deal of honey and all of it has to be hunted rather than farmed — which is why the honey it makes comes with rope ladders and night climbs attached.
• Himalayan giant honey beeThe largest honey bee in the world, nesting on sheer Himalayan cliff faces at altitudes up to four thousand metres, and the source of the red honey harvested by Nepalese honey hunters descending rope ladders down rock walls. It was regarded as a high-altitude form of the giant honey bee until the 1980s and is now generally treated as a separate species, and it is the only honey bee adapted to genuine mountain cold.