honeybee (redirected from Apis mellifera)

honeybee

Honeybee (Apis mellifera)

(credit: Ingmar Holmasen)

Broadly, any bee that makes honey (any insect of the tribe Apini, family Apidae); more strictly, one of the four species constituting the genus Apis. The term is usually applied to one species, the domestic honeybee (A. mellifera), also known as the European domestic bee or western honeybee. The other Apis species are confined to Asia. A. mellifera is usually about 0.5 in. (1.2 cm) long. All honeybees are social insects that live in nests or hives. They have three castes: workers (undeveloped females), queens, and drones (stingless males). See also beekeeping.

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honeybee

any of various social honey-producing bees of the genus Apis, esp A. mellifera, which has been widely domesticated as a source of honey and beeswax

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honeybee [′hən·ē‚bē]

(invertebrate zoology)

Apis mellifera. The bee kept for the commercial production of honey; a member of the dipterous family Apidae.