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western honeybee
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A honeybee (Apis mellifera) collects nectar from the bright yellow center of a violet flower, with delicate petals and a blurred green background. A honeybee with translucent wings and striped abdomen stands on a white background. Honeycomb Crop pollination All Hail the Queens Illustration showing three honeybees (Apis mellifera) side by side for size comparison: a small worker bee, a larger queen bee with an elongated abdomen, and a robust drone bee with a broader body. A worker honeybee with translucent wings and a yellow pollen sac on its hind leg stands against a white background. This medical illustration explains a systemic anaphylactic response to bee venom in someone with type I hypersensitivity. It shows a bee sting injecting venom into the skin, which then enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. The diagram highlights how the immune system reacts, including mast cell activation and the release of substances that cause symptoms such as swelling, low blood pressure, breathing difficulty, digestive issues, and skin reactions. The human figure is annotat Diagram showing the life cycle of a honeybee, with stages from egg, larva, and pupa to adult emerging from a honeycomb cell. A queen bee lays an egg, a worker bee feeds the larva, and the adult bee emerges on day 21. Pollination services

western honeybee: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • Samuel Emmett McGregor
  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: PNAS - Evolutionarily diverse origins of deformed wing viruses in western honey bees. Oct 31, 2026
Add new Web site: PNAS - Evolutionarily diverse origins of deformed wing viruses in western honey bees. Jan 30, 2026
Mentioned parasitic phorid flies and added a cross-reference to varroa mites. Jul 03, 2025
Add new Web site: BMC - BMC Genomics - Population genomics and morphometric assignment of western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in the Republic of South Africa. May 16, 2025
Add new Web site: Scientific Reports - Density of invasive western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in fragmented woodlands indicates potential for large impacts on native species. Mar 21, 2025
Media added. Nov 15, 2024
Added a taxonomic box. Sep 17, 2024
Add new Web site: Frontiers - Frontiers in Animal Science - Apis mellifera welfare: definition and future directions. Aug 23, 2024
Add new Web site: Ask IFAS - European Honey Bee Apis mellifera Linnaeus and subspecies (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae). Jun 25, 2024
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central -Meta-Analysis of the Public RNA-Seq Data of the Western Honeybee Apis mellifera to Construct Reference Transcriptome Data. Mar 08, 2024
Add new Web site: Animal Diversity Web - Apis mellifera. Jan 26, 2024
New article added. Dec 01, 2023
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