One of the most familiar insects in the world is the honey bee. Honey bees are social insects and are highly evolved. Worker bees are usually 2/3 inches long and are covered with light colored hairs, thickest on top of the thorax. Honey bees may be various shades of yellow, black, brown or orange. Honey bees have three adult castes queens, drones(males) and workers (sterile females). A colony may have as many as 50,000 bees. Honey bee nest are made of wax cells constructed by the workers, these masses of cells are called combs. These cells are used to store eggs, larvae, and pupae others are used to store honey. If a person approaches a nest, honey bees can become aggressive, especially if they are Africanized.
Africanized honey bees:
Are less predictable and more defensive.
They will pursue an enemy 1/4 mile or more.
They sting in large numbers.
Honey bee’s
Queen’s have a life span of 2-3 years and can lay up to 2500 eggs a day.
The worker honey bee has an average life span of 6-8 weeks.
A honey bee strokes it’s wings 11,400 times per minute and can fly at a speed of 15 mph.
Honey bee’s can travel as far as 6 miles to collect nectar from flowers.
Similarities between Africanized and European honey bees are:
They both protect their nest and sting in defense.
They can only sting once.
Both types of bees look the same
Both produce honey and wax.
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