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Apis mellifera

File:Apis_mellifera_Western_honey_bee.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ30034· pop 105· linked from 496 articles

Apis mellifera

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Also known as honeybee, western honey bee, European honey bee, honey bee, A. mellifera

species of insect

OverviewAI-generated

Apis mellifera, commonly known as the honey bee, is a species within the genus Apis. It belongs to the family Apidae, order Hymoptera, class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda, and kingdom Animalia. The taxon was described by Linnaeus in 1758. Its physical appearance includes yellow and black coloring.

The organism is found in Michigan and is invasive in Bolivia and Australia. It interacts physically with Apocephalus borealis. The species is a source of honey, beeswax, royal jelly, and propolis. Its main food sources are nectar and pollen. The longest observed lifespan is 8.

The IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient as of 2025. Occurrence records number 1208356, with 49614 records from institutions in Mexico. The genome has been sequenced.

Synthesized by Vinony from 48 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, IUCN Red List, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Data Deficient

honey bee

Apis mellifera

SPECIES

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumArthropoda
  3. ClassInsecta
  4. OrderHymenoptera
  5. FamilyApidae
Observations recorded1,208,356

via GBIF · IUCN

Museum specimens

Specimen records
49,614
With media
3,119
Family
Apidae
Collections
ECOSUR, CCBA-FMVZ-UADY, MHNCA, FCB-UANL
Recorded in
Mexico
iDigBio →

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Apis
Gender
female
Image
202203 western honey bee.svg
Show 20 more facts
color
black
taxon name
Apis mellifera
Commons category
Apis mellifera
taxon rank
species
Commons gallery
Apis mellifera
topic's main category
Category:Western honey bee
taxon common name
西方蜜蜂
MCN code
0106.41.00
different from
Apis
main food source
pollen
taxon author citation
Linnaeus, 1758
longest observed lifespan
8
sequenced genome URL
metazoa.ensembl.org/Apis_mellifera
invasive to
Australia
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
physically interacts with
Apocephalus borealis
short name
A. mellifera
taxon range
Michigan
external data available at URL
www.gbif.org/dataset/543c4afc-4ffb-4e11-a858-a6d1d9745214
IUCN conservation status
Data Deficient
Sources (10)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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

Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the waggle dance.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Apis mellifera” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (15)

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via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0