Western Honeybee

(Apis mellifera)
Italian Honeybee Race
Apis mellifera ligustica
Carniolan Honeybee Race
Apis mellifera carnica
European or German Black Honeybee Race
Apis mellifera mellifera
Africanized Honeybee Race
Apis mellifera scutellata
Africanized Honeybee Distribution
 Pollen Collectors!

Nectar Drinkers!
Honeybee Anatomy
 Thorax:
1.Movement
2.Respiration
3.Pollen Collection

Abdomen:
1.Reproduction
2.Digestion
3.Honey Production
4.Pheromone Production
5.Wax Production
6.Sting and Venom
Head:
1.Sensory Reception
2.Nectar, Pollen and Water Ingestion
3.Wax Chewing
Head Anatomy
Proboscis
Compound Eye

Yellow to Ultraviolet!
Thorax
Fanning – Pheromone Distribution
Nasonov gland (white tip) –
swarm pheromones.
Fanning - Thermoregulation
Fanning – Honey Dehydration (18%)
Third (Hind) Leg Anatomy
Pollen Basket
Pollen Grains (SEM)
Abdomen
Wax Glands
 Honeycomb
M.P. = > 97 Degrees F

1.Strength
2.Volume
Honey Stomach
Sting Anatomy
Sting Mechanism
Brood Cell Types
Brood Cell Types
 Honeybee Communication
Round Dance Waggle Dance
Honeybee Communication
Varroa Mites (Varroa destructor)
Tracheal Mites (Acarapis woodi)
Tracheal Scarring
•
Honeybee Facts
It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man. Honey is the only food that includes all
the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water.
• The honey bee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
• A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 22 miles per hour; it has to fly 90,000 miles
- three times around the globe - to make one pound of honey (16 ounces).
• The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
• It takes about 556 workers to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers.
• It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.
• A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
• A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen at any one time, and can
produce in excess of 200 lbs. of honey per year.
• Worker honey bees are diploid and female, live 6 to 8 weeks and do all the work. They can
sting. 1100 stings are fatal in most mammals. If they lay eggs, they are haploid and always
male.
• Drones are haploid and male. They only live a few weeks. Do not work and are fed by worker
bees. Their only function is to breed with queens. They cannot sting. The colony “kills” all
drones before winter.
• The queen lives for about 2-3 years and is the only bee that lays haploid (male) or diploid
(female) eggs. She lays up to 2500 eggs per day; 200,000 per growing season. She can sting.