{"id":361223,"date":"2026-04-21T14:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=361223"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:13:07","slug":"apis-mellifera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/apis-mellifera\/","title":{"rendered":"Apis Mellifera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>News:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Recently, a new set of protocols and scientific interventions has been developed in honey bee farming in Jammu and Kashmir, which allows beekeepers to rear colonies in sub-zero temperatures.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>About Apis Mellifera<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_361224\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-361224\" style=\"width: 393px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-361224 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_21-4-2026_12570_www.google.com_.jpeg?resize=393%2C198&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Apis Mellifera\" width=\"393\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_21-4-2026_12570_www.google.com_.jpeg?resize=300%2C151&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_21-4-2026_12570_www.google.com_.jpeg?resize=768%2C386&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_21-4-2026_12570_www.google.com_.jpeg?w=950&amp;ssl=1 950w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 393px) 100vw, 393px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-361224\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Britannica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>western honeybee<\/strong>, also known as the<strong> European honeybee<\/strong>, is one of<strong> several species in the genus Apis.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scientific name:<\/strong> Its scientific name is\u00a0 <strong>Apis mellifera<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sub-species:<\/strong> There are currently<b> 26 recognized subspecies <\/b>of Apis mellifera.<\/li>\n<li><b>Habitat: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They prefer habitats that have an <strong>abundant supply of suitable flowering plants.<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They can <strong>survive in grasslands, deserts, and wetlands<\/strong> if there is sufficient water, food, and shelter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They need<strong> cavities (e.g. in hollow trees) to nest in.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li>They are originally native to<strong> Europe, western Asia, and Africa. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>However, they are now widely distributed across<strong> East Asia, Australia, and both North and South America<\/strong>, and are <strong>found on all continents except Antarctica.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Characteristics\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Appearance: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are generally<strong> red\/brown in colour<\/strong> with<strong> black bands<\/strong> and <strong>orange-yellow rings on the abdomen.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have<strong> hair <\/strong>on the<strong> thorax<\/strong> and <strong>less hair <\/strong>on the<strong> abdomen.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have <strong>two pairs <\/strong>of<strong> wings and a slender waist.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They also <strong>have a pollen basket on their hind legs.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>There are<b> two castes of females:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong> Sterile workers<\/strong> are smaller (adults 10-15 mm long), <strong>fertile queens are larger (18-20 mm).\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Males, called drones,<\/strong> are 15-17 mm long at maturity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Both castes of females have a stinger <\/strong>that is formed from modified ovipositor structures.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Males have much larger eyes than females<\/strong>, probably to help locate flying queens during mating flights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Workers and queens possess stingers spiked with venom<\/strong> coming from abdominal glands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Diet: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They f<strong>eed on pollen and nectar collected from blooming flowers<\/strong>. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They<strong> also eat honey<\/strong> (stored, concentrated nectar) <strong>and secretions<\/strong> produced by other members of their colony.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Behaviour:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Foraging:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It <strong>only occurs during daylight<\/strong>, but bees are active in the hive continuously.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Communication: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their communication is <strong>based on chemical signals<\/strong>, and most of their communication and perception behaviours are centred around scent and taste.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are<\/span><b> partially endothermic.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They can <strong>warm their bodies and the temperature in their hive<\/strong> by working their flight muscles.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>eusocial<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, creating colonies<strong> with a single fertile female (Queen),<\/strong> many normally <strong>non-reproductive females (Workers),<\/strong> and a small proportion of <strong>fertile males (Drones).<\/strong> Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Lifecycle:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They are <\/span><b>holometabolous insects, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and have<strong> four stages <\/strong>in the life cycle &#8211; <strong>egg, larva, pupa, and adult<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Ecosystem role: <\/b>They play a<strong> key ecological role<\/strong> as <strong>primary pollinators, supporting plant reproduction<\/strong> and <strong>maintaining biodiversity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><b>Economic Importance: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were one of the <strong>first domesticated insects. <\/strong>They are the primary species maintained by beekeepers for both their <strong>honey production and pollination activities.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Threat: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are threatened by <strong>pests and diseases<\/strong>, especially the <strong>Varroa mite<\/strong> and <strong>colony collapse disorder<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Recently, a new set of protocols and scientific interventions has been developed in honey bee farming in Jammu and Kashmir, which allows beekeepers to rear colonies in sub-zero temperatures. About Apis Mellifera The western honeybee, also known as the European honeybee, is one of several species in the genus Apis. Scientific name: Its scientific&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/apis-mellifera\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Apis Mellifera<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,10498],"class_list":["post-361223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}