Physical characteristics of honey bees

The Indian hive bee, Apis cerana indica (Apidae). The little bee, Apis florea (Apidae). The European or Italian bee, Apis mellifera (Apidae). Dammer bee or stingless bee, Melipona irridipennis (Meliporidae).

Honey bees play a vital role in our lives. Seed plants produce fruit after pollinators such as bees and butterflies pollinate them by inadvertently transporting pollen from male to female flower parts . It is estimated that three-quarters of flowering plants require pollinators in order to produce fruit.

The western honey bee or European 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”, referring to the species’ production of honey.

A honey bee colony typically consists of three kinds of adult bees: workers, drones, and a queen . Several thousand worker bees cooperate in nest building, food collection, and brood rearing. Each member has a definite task to perform, related to its adult age.