Common name : Common honeybee
Scientific name : Apis mellifera
Family : Apidae
Native to : Eastern tropical Africa
Interesting fact : During winters, bees form a winter cluster’ within the hive to keep the Queen bee warm.
While there are many species of honeybees, the common honeybee is one of the most domesticated species. They are one of the two species, which are fed, maintained and transported by beekeepers. The hive is comprised of a single fertile Queen bee, thousands of drone bees and tens of thousands of sterile female worker bees. Unlike other bees, it is not up to the Queen bee alone to establish a colony, but rather the ‘swarm’ which undertakes this responsibility. One egg is laid in each cell in the wax honeycomb.
