Honey bee one queen bee, a fertile female; seasonally up to a few thousand drone bees, or fertile males; and tens of thousands of sterile female worker bees. Details vary among the different species of honey bees, but common features include: In cold climates, honey bees stop flying when the temperature drops below about and crowd into the central area of the hive to form a "winter cluster". The worker bees huddle around the queen bee at the center of the cluster, shivering to keep the center between at the start of winter (during the broodless period) and once the queen resumes
Russian honey bee bees that exhibited aggressive behavior against colony-level mite infestations. Accordingly, experimental research has found that mite populations decline in colonies of pure Russian and of hybrid Russian-Italian bees. The mechanisms through which mite populations are controlled in these colonies include hygienic behavior towards mites, and possibly increased aggression towards mites. Russian stocks also have been shown to resist infection by tracheal mites. Russian honey bee The Russian honeybee refers to honey bees ("Apis mellifera") that originate in the Primorsky Krai region of Russia. This strain of bee was imported into the United States in 1997 by the USDA's Honeybee Breeding,