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Fiji's highland bees under threat from climate change

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a honeybee sits on a white flower
European honeybees are an invasive species in Fiji(Supplied: Tobias Smith, University of Queensland)
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When you think of bees what usually springs to mind is the bumbling honeybee with yellow and black stripes.

But in Fiji bees can be purple, blue, green, and for bee expert James Dorey his favourite is the black with a large head.

"It's the rarest and seems like it's in decline," he said.

The majority of bee species in Fiji live in the highlands, 800 meters above sea level, and as the climate warms it means bees get pushed further up the mountains which increases their risk of extinction.

One bee species that Mr Dorey described is the 'homolictus terminalus' named for the fact that it is so high up the mountain it's reached it's last terminal.

"Because it's within 100 meters of the top of the mountain, a very small area, there is a chance that one will go extinct quite early."

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Fiji, Animals and Nature