Other Bees

Kinds of Bees

The honey bee that is kept today is classified by scientists in the categories listed below: 
Kingdom - Animalia
             Phylum - Arthropoda
                Class - Insecta
                   Order - Hymenoptera
                      Family - Apidae
                         Genus - Apis
                             Species - mellifera
giving it the scientific name Apis mellifera also commonly known as the Western or European honey bee.

There are six other species of honey bee from around the world.

Apis dorsata
The giant honey bee which is found in the Philippines.
Apis florea
The little honey bee from southern China and Malaysia.
Apis andreniformis
The dwarf honey bee of Southeast Asia.
Apis laboriosa
A bee found at high elevations in Nepal.
Apis koschevnikovi
A bee discovered in northern Borneo.
Apis cerana
The eastern honey bee found across Europe, Africa, Asia and Indonesia.
However, there are a considerable number of bees that are solitary, and do not live in large colonies like the European Honeybee. Thus, the honeybee is actually unusual in its social structure which contributes to its provisioning characteristics.

Some bees, like the bumble bee, may live in groups and are between the honey bees and the solitary bees in social structure. A single bumble bee builds a nest in brush piles, among weeds or in straw. She will build a nest chamber, and then begin to collect pollen and nectar which is piled into a lump in the center of the nest. She will then lay eggs and produce a wax substance to surround the food and eggs.

Heres a good webpage on bumble bees .

bumblebee When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the pile of food and the "queen" will also break into the chamber and feed the larvae from her honey stomach. Once the first brood hatch, they help to feed the next groups of bumble bees that develop. The colony will continue to grow and contain over 200 individuals in a nest the size of your fist, but once all the brood and new queens are produced, the colony will die.

There are also some interesting bees that live in the Sonoran Desert, or check out this good article that talks about the other families of bees.

Here is a really great article about one of my favorites, Carpenter Bees and here's one on Leaf Cutter Bees.

There are also Stingless Bees.

A fact filled page with pictures and descriptions of all the Wasps and Bees of Missouri is a good place to learn about a variety of stinging insects and how some serve as beneficial predators upon insect pests.

If you ever wanted to build a bumble bees nest here's where to learn how.

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Last modified 29 June 1998