Western honey bee

The honey bee is a busy bug.

It lives in a big group. One queen bee lays all the eggs. Many worker bees find food.

They find nectar in flowers. They turn it into sweet honey. This honey is food for the hive.

The bees work together to stay safe. They can live on almost every land. They are very helpful to our world.

The western honey bee is a very busy insect.

These bees live in big groups called colonies. A colony has one queen bee. She is the only fertile female. She lays all the eggs for the group. Most other bees are workers. These are females that do not lay eggs. They do many jobs to help the hive. They clean, guard, and find food.

Workers find nectar in flowers. They turn nectar into honey. They store it in wax cells to eat later.

Bees can make a new colony by swarming.

The old queen and many workers leave the hive. They fly away to find a new home. In the old hive, new queens grow. They fight until only one is left. This new queen then lays eggs for the old colony. Bees live on every continent except Antarctica. Humans help them live in many new places. They are very important for pollination. This helps plants grow across the world.

The western honey bee is a very important insect.

Its scientific name is Apis mellifera. This name comes from Latin words. Apis means bee. Mellifera means honey-bearing. These bees live in large groups called colonies. A single colony can hold tens of thousands of bees. They are very social. They use special smells and a waggle dance to talk.

This helps them work together as one big unit.

A colony has three different types of bees. The queen is the only fertile female. She is larger with a long, round abdomen. Most of the colony is made of workers. These are females that do not lay eggs. They have many jobs to do. They clean the hive and guard the doors. They also find nectar and pollen. The last group is the drones. These are the fertile males.

Workers make wax to build cells for the colony.

New colonies start through a way of working called swarming.

In spring or early summer, the hive makes new queens. The old queen and many workers fly away. They look for a new home like a hollow tree. In the old hive, the new queens fight. Only one queen survives to lay eggs. This queen then mates with drones on special flights. She usually finishes mating within two weeks. This starts the life of the new colony.

Individual bees go through four life stages. They start as an egg. Then they become a larva. After that, they are a pupa. Finally, they emerge as an adult.

The queen lays one egg in each wax cell. Nurse bees feed the larvae special food. If a larva eats only royal jelly, it becomes a queen. If it eats pollen and nectar, it becomes a worker. Workers change jobs as they get older. They start by cleaning and end by foraging for food.

These bees are found on every continent except Antarctica. They likely started in Africa or Asia. Humans helped them spread to many other places. We brought them to North America in the early 1600s. We also brought them to Australia and South America. People keep them to make honey. They also help plants grow through pollination. Scientists also study them to learn about memory. They can even help us study how pesticides affect nature.

The western honey bee, known scientifically as Apis mellifera, is a highly social insect.

The name Apis comes from the Latin word for bee. The name mellifera means honey-bearing, which describes their ability to produce honey. These bees are eusocial, meaning they live in organized groups called colonies. A single colony can contain tens of thousands of individuals. Because they act so closely together, scientists often call them a superorganism. This means the whole colony functions like one single living thing.

A colony is divided into three distinct social castes. The queen is the only fertile female in the hive. She is larger than the others and has a long, round abdomen. The workers are non-reproductive females that perform almost all the hive's labor. Drones are the fertile males, and they represent a small portion of the population. These roles are determined by what the larvae eat.

If a larva is fed only royal jelly, it develops into a queen. If it is fed a mix of pollen and nectar, it becomes a worker. This process is known as phenotypic plasticity, where gene expression changes based on the environment.

Worker bees follow a strict schedule of tasks as they age. For the first 10 days, they act as nurse bees. They clean the hive and feed the larvae. Between days 16 and 20, they begin storing nectar and pollen. After the 20th day, they become foragers.

Foragers leave the hive to collect resources from flowers. They collect nectar, which they process by evaporating moisture to create honey. This honey is then stored in wax cells and can last indefinitely. This food supply is vital for surviving the cold seasons.

Colonies reproduce through a complex process called swarming.

In spring or early summer, the hive produces up to two dozen new queens. The old queen and about two-thirds of the workers leave to find a new home. They might choose a hollow tree trunk for their new hive. Back in the original colony, the new queens fight for dominance. Only one survivor becomes the new queen. This queen then goes on nuptial flights to mate with 1 to 17 drones. This ensures the colony can continue to produce many offspring.

The life cycle of an individual bee involves complete metamorphosis. This includes four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

The queen lays a single egg in a wax cell. The egg hatches into a legless larva. Nurse bees feed the larva until it is ready to pupate. After the pupal stage, the adult bee emerges. While the queen can live for several years, workers have much shorter lives. In many regions, summer workers live only a few weeks. However, autumn workers can live for several months to help the colony survive winter.

Western honey bees have a massive global presence. They are believed to have originated in Africa or Asia. They spread naturally through Europe and the Middle East. Humans have since introduced them to every continent except Antarctica. For example, European subspecies were brought to North America in the early 1600s. This has led to 31 recognized subspecies that have adapted to local climates. Some bees form winter clusters in cold areas, while others use migratory swarming in Africa.

These insects are vital to many different fields of study. Scientists use them as model organisms to study social evolution, learning, and memory. They are also used to test how pesticides affect the environment. Researchers study how chemicals move through pollen to see the impact on non-target species.

Beyond science, they are essential for pollination and honey production. However, they face serious threats from diseases and pests like the Varroa mite. As of 2025, the western honey bee is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List.