Western honey bee Western honey bee The western honey bee or European honey bee ("Apis mellifera") is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bee worldwide. The genus name "Apis" is Latin for "bee", and "mellifera" is the Latin for "honey-bearing", referring to the species' production of honey. Like all honey bees, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers," and small proportion of fertile males or "drones." Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both
Swarming (honey bee) by one or more virgin queens. Sometimes a beehive will swarm in succession until it is almost totally depleted of workers. Swarming is honey bee colonies' natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming the original single colony reproduces to two and sometimes more colonies. For instance, one species of honey bee that participates in such swarming behavior is "Apis cerana." The reproduction swarms of this species settle 20–30 m away from the natal nest for a few days and will then depart for a new nest site after getting information from scout bees. Scout bees search for suitable