Honey Bee
Honey Bee are social insects. They live by making colonies. There are thousands of bees living in the colony, with one queen bee – the head of the colony, hundreds of drone (male) bees and worker (sterile female) bees.
The scientific name of honey bee is Apis mellifera.
Structure of Honey Bee
The body of a honey bee is divded into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen.
Life Cycle
The life cycle of honey bee completes in four distinct stages: Eggs, Larva, Pupa and Adult.
Types of Honeybee
There are thousands of bees living in the colony, with one queen bee – the head of the colony, hundreds of drone (male) bees and worker (sterile female) bees.
Queen Bee
Queen Bee is the head of the colony and there lives only one queen bee in a colony. It is the largest bee in the colony, as well. Also, it is the only fertile female bee in the colony.
Following are the features of the queen bee:
She mates once in her life time with the drone bees. For this, they go on a flight out of the bee-hive. This flight of the queen bee and the drone bees for mating is called nuptial flight.
Worker Bee
These are the smallest and non-fertile female bees in the colony. There are thousands of such bees.
Following are the features of worker bee:
Drone Bee
These are the fertile and male bees of the colony. There are only a few hundred drone bees in a colony.
Following are the features of drone bee:
Benefits of Honeybee
- Life Cycle
- Types of Honeybee
- Benefits of Honey Bee
Silk Moth
Two species of silk moth are reared in Nepal: i) Eri silkworm (Attacus ricini) and ii) Seri silkworm (Bombyx mori). The following note is made upon seri silkworm that feeds on the mulberry leaves.
- Structure
- Life Cycle
- Sericulture