Different Varieties of Bees

We've all eaten honey, and many people supplement our diets by eating helpful bee byproducts like bee pollen. However, there are plenty of totally different species of bees; that ones create honey, and what do other kinds of bees do?

There are regarding 25,000 identified species of bees worldwide (regarding four,000 within the United States), all of which are classified underneath the superfamily Apoidea. These are divided into nine families, four of which are very tiny in terms of numbers of species.

We are most acquainted with one family of bees, Apidae, that includes honey bees and bumblebees. Honey bees, in fact, manufacture honey; these are social bees that live in colonies of 50,000 to sixty,000 workers, three hundred drones, and usually a single queen. Honey bee colonies are very advanced in terms of behavior and overall operate; these bees behave for the survival of the colony, and not for individual survival. There are ten broad types of honey bee worldwide, and one hybrid selection, the Africanized bee, or "killer bee." The European honey bee is most ordinarily kept by beekeepers, for the purpose of harvesting honey and bee byproducts.

Bumblebees are also from the family Apidae, but bumblebee colonies are much smaller than those of honey bees, generally hosting solely some hundred worker bees. Like honey bees, bumblebees are wonderful pollinators of numerous flowers; their bodies are quite furry, trapping pollen simply as the bees move from flower to flower to eat. And bumblebees do in fact create honey, similar in texture and style to honey from honey bees however greenish-golden in tint rather than the pure golden color of regular honey. Bumblebees build relatively small quantities of honey -- their colonies are so little -- and it's troublesome to reap, so bumblebee honey is sometimes not found on the market.

There are nonetheless more members of the Apidae family, solitary rather than colonizing. Digger bees usually make their nests in the soil, rearing their young in soil tunnels; their bodies are hairy, and sometimes up to 3 centimeters long. Digger bees typically nest in shut proximity to each alternative, giving the looks of a colony, but each female is acting independently, protecting and collecting pollen for her young. These bees are nonaggressive and can not sting unless they're trapped in clothing. Carpenter bees, on the other hand, nest in old wood; like digger bees, they are solitary, however usually nest in shut proximity to every other.

Leafcutter bees and mason bees are members of the Megachilidae family; they're solitary, with leafcutters making nests in hollow plant stems and ready-made holes in wood and mason bees nesting in recent mortar and numerous crevices. With solitary bees, it's the feminine that mates and rears her young on her own; like social bees, the males serve no purpose other than to mate with fertile females. Many of those solitary bees are increasingly being reared commercially for pollination purposes, particularly as honey bee populations around the globe are dwindling for as nevertheless unexplained reasons.

Mining bees belong to the Andrenidae family; this family includes thousands of species round the world. Additionally solitary, mining bees excavate tunnels and cells underground in that to rear their young; their tunnels are typically visible as small mounds in the ground, such as worm casts. A nest might encompass a main tunnel with 5 or six branches every containing an egg cell. Mining bees like sandy soil. They do not cause any harm to a garden, and should be welcomed as effective pollinators.

Bees of the Halictidae family are typically referred to as "sweat bees" as a result of they're attracted by perspiration; females will provide a minor sting if trapped. These bees nest in the bottom or in wood, and they are social, though their caste system differs from that of honey bees or bumblebees. And therefore the Colletidae family contains plasterer bees, so known as because they swish the walls of their nest cells with secretions that dry into a lining resembling cellophane. These are solitary bees, found principally in Australia and South America.

Four other bee families -- Melittidae, Meganomiidae, Dasypodaidae, and Stenotritidae -- are terribly little in range of species; these rare bees are found in Africa or Australia.

Bees are abundant additional diverse in type and behavior than would at first appear. You are most likely to encounter honey bees and bumblebees, however most all bees are effective pollinators, and as such a valuable link in our international ecosystem.

Robert Mccormack has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Bee-Pollen-Health, Different Types of Bees. You can also check out his latest website about:


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Different Types of Bees