Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Western honey bees were brought to the United States by people and are now common visitors to gardens and orchards. Workers gather nectar and pollen for a colony with one queen, and managed hives help pollinate many crops. Western honey bees are also called European honey bees.

Appearance

Appearance: Workers are fuzzy bees with dark bands across the abdomen. Their color varies among and colonies.

Look-alikes

Common drone flyEristalis tenax

This bee mimic has one pair of wings and short antennae; a honey bee has two pairs of wings.

Why they get mixed upIt is fuzzy and visits the same flowers.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: Gardens
Orchards
Farm fields
Meadows
Backyard hives
Range: Originally from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. European colonists brought western honey bees to North America in the 1600s, and today managed and free-living colonies occur across the US.
When it’s recorded: Recorded year-round, every year · most records in Apr, Sep
230,630 observations in the US · 10 years · for referenceChoose a state

Behavior

Diet: Workers gather nectar, which they turn into honey, and pollen, which feeds the growing larvae.
Social life: A colony has one egg-laying queen, many female workers, and male drones. Workers use a waggle dance to show nestmates the direction and distance of a food source.

Life cycle

Breeding season: In spring and summer, crowded colonies reproduce by : the old queen leaves with part of the workforce to find a new home.
Lifespan: Queens can live for several years. Summer workers live for weeks, while winter workers may live for months.

Cautions

Cautions: When a worker stings a person, its barbed stinger usually tears free and the bee dies.

Name and classification

About the name: Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) are widely kept by beekeepers, while British Black Honey Bees (Apis mellifera mellifera) show how dark this species can be. in the southern US have ancestry from African honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) and other subspecies; a photo cannot establish that ancestry.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Threats: In the US, , disease, poor forage, and pesticides can harm managed colonies. Losses vary from year to year.

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: Beekeepers move managed hives to help pollinate crops, including almonds in California.

31 sources