honeybee: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

Nov. 2, 2026

News •

Scientists find a surprising way to strengthen honey bee colonies • Oct. 29, 2026, 8:27 AM ET (Earth.com)

Honey bees are bullying other bees, scientists discover • Oct. 22, 2026, 7:22 AM ET (Science Daily)

Beehives act as 'living immune systems' with layered antimicrobial defenses • Oct. 19, 2026, 6:00 PM ET (Phys.org)

Facts

Also Known As	Apini • honey bee

Photos and Videos

A honey bee (Apis mellifera) on a wax comb next to a queen bee cup filled with white royal jelly.

Labeled diagram of a worker honeybee in side view, showing body parts such as antenna, wings, legs, mouthparts, stinger, pollen basket, and internal organs like heart, aorta, nerve cord, and honey stomach.

Africanized honeybee and European honeybee

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.

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.

Prolific pollinators

Close-up of a queen European honeybee laying eggs in honeycomb cells, surrounded by worker bees inside a hive.

Honeybee queen in the center foreground surrounded by worker bees on a honeycomb frame inside a hive.

Investigate how honeybees construct combs out of wax to store honey, plant nectar, and bee bread

Which bee species really need saving?

Protecting the endangered Burzyan honeybee in Russia

Learn about the Asian Giant Hornet and how they are a threat to honeybees

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

Apis Where Do Honeybees Go in the Winter?Do honeybees sleep?western honeybee dwarf honeybee giant honeybee Eastern honeybee Apis nigrocincta Koschevnikov’s bee black dwarf honeybee stingless bee bumblebee euglossine bee

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Charles Henry Turner.

Charles Henry Turner

American scientist

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.

Creepy Crawlers Quiz

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination

Know Your Bugs Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names