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
Honey bee race and are not defined as subspecies in their own right) The known sub-species within the lineage 'A' are: The known sub-species within the lineage 'C' are: The known sub-species within the lineage 'M' are: The known sub-species within the lineage 'O' are: The known sub-species within the lineage 'Y') are: Honey bee race Within biological taxonomy, a Honey bee race would be an informal rank in the taxonomic hierarchy, below the level of subspecies. It has been used as a higher rank than strain, with several strains making up one race. Therefore a strain (within the Honey bee context) is