# Western Honey Bee

*Apis mellifera*

Honey bees perform a 'waggle dance' to communicate the precise distance and direction of profitable flower patches to their hive mates.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Hymenoptera › Apidae › Apis
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Meadows, gardens, orchards, and open woodlands; essentially anywhere with abundant flowering plants.
- **Diet:** Nectar for carbohydrates and pollen for protein and fats.
- **Range:** Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Oceania
- **Size:** 1.1 to 1.5 cm in length.
- **Lifespan:** Workers: 6 weeks in summer, 4-9 months in winter; Queens: 2-5 years.
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss, pesticide use (neonicotinoids), Varroa mites, and Colony Collapse Disorder.
- **Safe to approach?:** Generally harmless unless the hive is threatened or the bee is physically pinched. If a bee lands on you, stay calm and wait for it to fly off. If stung, scrape the stinger out immediately with a flat edge to minimize venom release. Seek medical help if you show signs of an allergic reaction.

## About

The western honey bee or European honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bee worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for "bee", and mellifera is the Latin for "honey-bearing", referring to the species' production of honey for the winter.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/1a444bc2-8348-447e-9e6a-7eff1a84fc16
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47219
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis mellifera
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/217394043/medium.jpeg (no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.