Honey Bee

Honey Bee

Honey bees (or honeybees) are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Honey bees are the only extant members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis. Currently, there are only seven recognised species of honey bee with a total of 44 subspecies, though historically, anywhere from six to eleven species have been recognised. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees. Some other types of related bees produce and store honey, but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees.

Read more about Honey Bee:  Origin, Systematics and Distribution, Beekeeping, Life Cycle, Sexes and Castes, Defense, Communication, Symbolism

Famous quotes containing the words honey and/or bee:

    When one is hungry, everything is as sweet as honey, but when one is overfull, even honey is not sweet.
    Chinese proverb.

    He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom—a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.
    Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)