Honey Bees
Honey bees, although one of the most popular bees, represent only a small per cent of bee species. Honey bees are the only surviving group of bees from the Apini tribe, which is under the Apis genus. They are known for producing and storing honey, or liquefied sugar, as well as building impressively large nests using wax secreted by workers in a particular colony. Honey bees' measure about 15 millimeters long and are light brown in color.
Like other bee species, honey bees are social and live in colonies of thousands. Queen bees lay eggs in the cells of the nest, and when they hatch, they become larvae. Adult workers tend these larvae inside the cells and feed them with pollen and honey for approximately three weeks, at which point they become adults. Mature bees chew themselves out of the sealed cells to emerge.
In each colony, there is only one egg-laying queen, but there are thousands of workers. Unlike other species, only the queen honey bee seeks shelter during the winter. Her workers can slowly starve to death inside their nests. If her colony dies, the queen looks for a new nesting site and uses new materials to establish her colony.
Honey bees originated in Southeast Asia, but have spread worldwide and can be seen in many different locations, including Europe and the United States. They are most visible in summer and late spring, when new queens leave their old colonies along with thousands of workers in order to build new nests. At this time, large groups of bees can be seen swarming together to find a new nesting place. It takes a swarm approximately 24 hours to locate a new nesting site. While most swarms are harmless, certain species of bees are extremely aggressive and may attack unprovoked.
