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Western Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

Classification

Class
Insecta
Family
Apidae

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for 'bee', and mellifera is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', referring to the species' production of honey. Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones".

Distribution

Bas van Hulst-Kuiper · CC BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
Netherlands · 105,940Germany · 91,824United Kingdom · 28,893France · 13,032Spain · 6,242Italy · 5,541Switzerland · 1,801Luxembourg · 1,120Peru · 1,056Belgium · 739