There are around 0.9 million insects found in the world. Some of them are helpful and some of them are poisonous to us and some of them are both. Bees are the type of insects that are very helpful for our nature.
In this post, we are going to learn about the scientific study of bees. Which includes the definition of bees, physical anatomy, and scientific classification of bees.
Also, I am going to discuss how many different types of bees are there all over the world. Lastly some interesting facts about the greatest pollinators in the world.
What Is Bees And Beehive (Definition & Meaning)
Bee is a type of insect that contains stings or some of them stingless and have wings that help them to fly. Bees are famous, especially for their democratic colonization in a beehive. That could be an ideal lesson for human democracy.
Without Antarctica, bees can be found all over the world. They usually live in trees having insect-pollinated flowers.
Some of the most popular bees are honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, and ground bees.
Some of these bees contain stings. But usually, they don’t use their sting to hurt others unless they are interrupted. They only use their sting when they find danger is coming.
To learn more about bees you can check this.
What Is A Beehive?
In simple words, a beehive is a small city of bees where bees live in a colony. And the colony is run by a democratic society. More precisely A beehive is a place where bees live and produce honey.
In a beehive, there is one queen bee and a lot of labor bees that take care of the queen bee and honey production.
Production of honey and reproduction of bees occurs in the colonial gap of the beehive.
Bees in a beehive live together as a group by helping each other and working jointly for their whole life. This group of bees is called a colony of bees.
Scientific Classification Of Bees
Bees are similar to wasps and ants with some different characteristics. However, bees are scientifically classified as below.
Kingdom: Animalia
Division: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Apis
Species: Mellifera
Bees and wasps are almost similar as they have the same Kingdom to Order.
The Basic Difference Between Bees And Wasps
Though bees and wasps have the same kingdom to order they have some identical differences. Differences between bees and wasps are as below.
| Bees | Wasp |
| Bees are of the Apidae family | Wasps are of the Scollidae family. |
| Produce honey | They do not produce honey. |
| Bees are normally fully hairy-bodied. | Wasps usually don’t have entirely hairy bodies. |
| The average size of bees is 0.5 Inches. | The average size of a wasp is 0.75 inches. |
Physical Anatomy Of Bee
A bee’s body can be divided into 3 parts. Abdomen, Thorax, and Head. At the head, they have a pair of antennae which they use for communication.
They have strong mandibles that they use to catch food. They also have stings on their back that are used for protection.
They have a pollen basket that is used to hold pollen while returning to the hive after pollination. Different parts of a honey bee are shown in the picture below.
Different Types Of Bees
There are almost 20,000 types of bees were invented among them around 20 types of bees can be found all over the world.
Bees have different types depending on their physical structure and living type.
In this post, I will try to introduce you to the types of bees having stings, bees without stings, ground bees, and orchid bees.
Types Of Bees Having Stings
As you know in the world around 20,000 types of bees are available. But all of them don’t contain stings and all of the bees can’t sting.
Honey Bee and Bumble Bees, and some ground bees are the types of bees that have stings and can injure enemies with stings.
Honey Bees
Honey bees are the most common and widely found type of bee all over the world. They have wings and stings and are found in various regions of Europe, Africa, America, Australia, Asia, And some other regions.
They are famous because of their colonial living in a beehive and their ability to produce honey.
They will use their sting when they find danger is coming. Honey bees are very careful about the safety of their colony.
They won’t use their sting unless they see any harmful activity that is alarming for the colony by any other creatures including humans, insects, and bees from another colony.
Bumble Bees
Bumble bees are normally found in the Northern Hemisphere. But they are also found in some of the regions of South America.
Their living is similar to honey bees as they also live in a colony by creating beehives.
But their colony or beehive is normally smaller than honey bees. Their female can sting the enemy continuously.
Bumble bee collects nectar from flowers but they do not produce honey like honey bees.
Types Of Bees Without Stings
Without Honey bees and Bumble Bees, almost all of the other bees are stingless.
As there are around 20k bees available all over the world and they can’t be discussed in a single post.
So, let’s gather some knowledge about some of the popular types of bees that do not have stings.
Carpenter Bees
This is the type of bee that doesn’t have stings and has 500 species. They have wings and they normally create their nest on a dead tree or bamboo.
They usually live in very small colonies. For example, mother bees live with her childs or sister bees live together.
They have tinny mouth parts which help them in pollination from open flowers.
They have both small size and large sizes also known as small carpenter bees and large carpenter bees.
Andrena Bees
Andrena is a type of Stingless bee that usually lives in the ground. Andrena Bees have over 100 subgenera.
This type of bees are medium in size compared to other bees.
Their nests are usually attacked by other insects including other types of bees too.
They normally visit a few nearest plants for collection of pollen purposes. To learn more about them you can check this.
Ceratina
Usually, small carpenter bees are called Ceratina. So their characteristics are similar to carpenter bees. Some of them are social and some of them are unsocial. Learn details here.
Hylaeus Bees
Hylaeus bees are the type of bee that can be found all over the world just except in Antarctica.
They are commonly known as Yellow–Faced bees. They didn’t sting to defend their colony or any other purpose.
Hylaeus bees have more than 500 species all over the world.
They usually create their nests on dead trees. They carry pollen from flower to flower and also bring some Nectar to their nest for their larvae.
Euglossini
Euglossini well known as orchid bees has over 200 species with 5 genera.
They aren’t live socially together means males and females are lives apart from each other.
They do not produce honey. They carry pollen from one flower to another with the help of a pollinator which is usually hidden on the pollinator cap. For more check this.
Austroplebeia Bees
Austroplebeia is a type of stingless bee mostly found in the region of Australia.
They are smaller in size and most of the body parts are black.
All of their species contain almost the same characteristics. Their head and chest contain yellow marks. To learn more about them read this.
Melipona
Melipona is another type of stingless bee having around 70 species ever discovered.
Some of their species are capable of producing honey. Some of them usually borrow pollen from Vanilla plants from one to another.
This type of pollinator Melipona is usually found in some of the regions of Mexico.
This type of bees are ecologically and commercially very important. Some of the species of Melipona are used in Beekeeping.
Tetragonisca
This is another type of stingless bee found in the region of Central and South America having 4 species. If you are interested to learn about them check this Wikipedia post.
Melecta
The Melecta is a type of stingless bee having 50 species around the world.
The Melecta are also known as digger bees as they used to create their nest by digging in wood. More details are here.
Trigona Bees
This is the type of stingless bee which have the largest portion among all of the stingless bees available all over the world.
Their nest is usually made of wax and resin. Some of the species of Trigona Bees use saliva to communicate with their mate and send information about food sources.
Types Of Ground Bees
Ground bees are the type of bees which used to create their nest on the ground. Some of the ground bees also have stings. But they unlike to use their sting often. As they live a solitary life and are not very defensive.
But not all of the ground bees are risk-free. There are still some aggressive bees that live in the ground. You have to be aware of them. If you have any harmful ground bees in your yard you can check this to get rid of ground bees.
Around 70% of the bee species are ground bees. Following are the well-known type of ground bees.
- Some of the species of Bumble Bee
- Sweat bee
- Alkali bee
- Andrena bee
- BlackJack Bee
- Some of the species of Orchid bee.
Ground bees are normally around half an inch in size and all ground bees usually contain the same characteristics.
Types Of Orchid Bees
Usually, Euglossines bees are known as Orchid bees. Orchid bees do not produce honey but they help in pollination.
They travel from one flower to another flower with pollen on an anther.
Only male Orchid bees usually live together in a flower. That’s why most female orchid bees do not contribute to the process of pollination.
Different Types Of Honey Bees Inside A Beehive
There are 3 types of bees in a beehive. They are:
- Worker
- Queen
- Drone
Worker Bees
Each Beehive can contain up to 100 thousand worker bees. They are the largest community of the beehive who actually works for their entire life for the safety of the colony.
They are the smallest population in size in the colony. Usually less than 15 mm in size.
Worker bees are female bees who are unable to reproduce. But they do all the work required for the safety of the hive for their entire life.
They provide shelter to the hive, collect and carry nectar from flower to the hive, take care of brood and larvae, and select and work for their entire life restlessly for the welfare of the colony.
Queen Bee (Prime Minister Of The Hive)
A beehive can contain thousands of worker bees but it can contain only one queen bee. Worker bees are also female but the queen bee is the special one only which grows the population of the hive by reproduction.
The entire colony is run by the instruction of the queen. The queen bee is the largest one of the colony in size. It is almost twice the size of the worker bees.
The queen bee releases pheromones that attract all of the other bees and help them to identify their own home.
Drone Bees
Drone bees are the male bees inside a beehive. In a word, they don’t have any work in the colony instead of reproduction.
They participate in physical intercourse with the queen to produce new generations of the colony.
Drone bees are larger in size than Worker Bees but smaller than the size of the Queen bee.
Drone bees get the chance of intercourse with the queen bee only once in their entire life. After the intercourse, they died.
What Do Bees Eat?
Bees have a pollen and nectar-rich diet. The main foods they usually eat are nectar and pollen collected from flowers.
Pollen and nectar are rich in protein, vitamins, amino acids, and all other nutrients they need. This is why they are very intellectual.
But they don’t solely depend on flowers. Because bees can prey on different food sources when there are no flowers. Bees can eat the following foods.
- Primarily pollen and nectar.
- Honeydew.
- Fallen fruit juice.
- Sugar syrup.
- Sugary foods like candy, sweet cakes, etc.
8 Interesting Facts About Bees
There are countless amount of facts about this tiny helpful creature. Learning about them is never-ending. Here I am sharing with you the 8 most interesting facts about bees.
- Only Bumble bees and honey bees have stings and almost 90% of the bee doesn’t have stings.
- When the queen is weak the other bees kill the queen and they select a new young female bee as their queen.
- Honeybees can fly up to 20 miles per hour.
- Honey contains sucrose and fructose.
- A honey bee can produce at most 1 or a half teaspoon of honey in its whole life.
- The life span of bees is from 4 days to up to 6 months.
- Drone bees can mate their whole life only once with the queen and then they die.
- When a queen is flying for a mate the drone bees that try to mate but fail, end their own life due to their failure.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bees
Why are bees important?
The main reason is they are contributing a lot to balancing our ecosystem. They are the world's largest pollinating community. Also, they provide food sources to a lot of other predators. A lot of flowers solely depend upon pollination by bees.
Are bees male and female?
Yes, bees can be male and female. In a honey bee colony, there are a lot of female workers and a single female queen bee. Also, there are a lot of male bees known as drone bees. The males are only capable of mating with the queen. The female worker bees can't reproduce but take care of the entire colony.
Do male bees fly?
Yes, all of the bees can fly. Male bees are not exceptional. They can also fly. Male bees mainly fly to mate with the queen.
Do bees eat their own honey?
Yes, bees eat their own honey. Bees at their brood phase only eat honey. Also, bees store honey to fade the entire colony during winter and when there is scarcity of flowers.
What is bees Favourite food?
Bee's favorite food is pollen and nectar collected from flowers. Though bees eat other things too. But pollen and nectar contain all the nutrients they need. This is why pollen and nectar collected from the flower is their favorite food.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this post provides sufficient information about different types of bees. Now you know what is bees and their characteristics. Also, you learned 8 interesting facts about bees. Hopefully, these informations would be helpful for you for gathering knowledge about this amazing tiny creatures.
Bees are contributing a lot to both economic and sociological balancing. All of the different types of bees are the blessing of god as they are the main source of pollination all over the world.
Bees are keeping our ecosystem running. So, we should study more about bees and gather knowledge about all types of bees, especially honey bees.
To save the plants and if we want to contribute to the ecological balancing of the environment we should take care of bees.
Beekeeping can also be a great career to reduce the unemployed youth of the nation.
For the financial and environmental development of the world, we should focus on beekeeping. Because taking care of bees means taking care of our environment by helping pollination.
If you want to gather more knowledge about bees and beekeeping you can check my other articles. Those might be helpful for you to develop your beekeeping career and you can take better care of your honey bees.
