Honeybee

domestic honeybee

honeybee, (tribe Apini), also spelled honey bee, any of a group of insects in the family Apidae (order Hymenoptera) that in a broad sense includes all bees that make honey. In a stricter sense, honeybee applies to any one of seven members of the genus Apis—and usually only the single species, Apis mellifera, the domestic honeybee. This species is also called the European honeybee or the western honeybee.

honeybees: queen, worker, drone

nectar

All honeybees are social insects and live together in nests or hives. The honeybee is remarkable for the dancing movements it performs in the hive to communicate information to its fellow bees about the location, distance, size, and quality of a particular food source in the surrounding area.

The following sections provide an overview of the different honeybee species, honeybee biology, and diseases of honeybees. For more detailed information on honeybees, their colonies, and diseases, see the articles beekeeping and colony collapse disorder.