The Most Common Types of Bees

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“Thousands of different bee species are found around the world today, and the hive-dwelling, flower-pollinating behavior adopted by the honeybee is only one of many different lifestyles exhibited by them; there are even ‘grades’ of sociability among the social bee species, ranging from loose gathering of similar bees to systems in which the nest or hive runs according to a distinct hierarchical order, and which consists of a matriarchal queen, workers (sterile females) and drones (males), each with well-defined roles.  Other bees live solitary existences, and some indulge in practices such as parasitism.  Behavior such as nest building also takes many forms, and the names of mining bees and leafcutter bees provide strong clues as to the methods used by these species to construct their homes.  Not all bees fly in bright daylight; some families of bees contain species that fly at dawn or dusk when light levels are much lower, in which case their ocelli are enlarged and that much more sensitive.  Many of these species are adapted to pollinate flowers that only open at night or in low light, such as evening primroses.  Some bees live in regions such as deserts, where flying in the searing heat of the day is best avoided, and they also pollinate flowers at night.”  (Hall p.64-65, 2010)

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“Although many bees conform to the slightly rounded shape typical of species such as bumblebees and honeybees, there are others that look distinctly wasplike in shape or colour, for example, the leafcutter bee (Megachile Willunghbiella) and the species known as Nomada Fulvicornis.  These species have narrow waists and black-and-yellow abdomens, which enhance their ‘waspishness’ that much more.  The abdomen of the cuckoo bee (Nomanda Fulvicornis) terminates in a sharply pointed end.  This species is almost all black in colour, making it look even less like a typical bee.  The carpenter bee (Xylocopa Violacca) is another unusual-looking bee, this beng a handsome, harmless insect with shiny blue-black body parts and attractive violet wings.”  (Hall p.64-68, 2010)

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“The world’s smallest bee is a dwarf species called Trigona Minima; it measures about 0.08-in long and is one of the species of stingless bees.  At the other end of the scale, he largest bee in the world is an Indonesian leafcutter bee called Megachile Pluto, which attains 1.5-in in length.  The most common species of bee worldwide is the European honeybee, our old friend Apis Mellifera, but in North America the most common kind is a type of halictid or ‘sweat bee’ (Augochloropsis Species), whose common name comes from the fact that they often land on people’s skin to lick up the salt from their perspiration.  This can be an alarming experience, since they often resemble wasps in appearance.  Sweat bees also have an unusual way of obtaining pollen, known as buzz pollination, in which the bee grasps the anther in its jaws and vibrates its wings, causing the pollen to be dislodged onto its body.”  (Hall p.69-70, 2010)

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“Solitary bees are most abundant and diverse in places such as the deserts of the Mediterranean basin and North America’s south-west.  After mating, the female builds a nest from glandular secretions, subsequently laying down provisions of pollen and nectar for her offspring to eat when they hatch.  While doing this, solitary bees play on important part in pollination, and many species specialize in pollinating only certain types of flower.  This means that both the bee and the flower are closely dependent on one another for their species’ survival.  The nest of a solitary bee varies according to the species; for example, it may be a few cells built inside a tree hollow or a hole in a bank.  In the case of the tawny mining bee (Andrena Fulva), the nest is often a hole dug in a lawn with a mound of soil near to the entrance resembling a small volcano.”  (Hall p.70-72, 2010)

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“Another interesting type of nest-building behavior is seen among members of the family Megachilidae, the most common members of which are the leafcutter and mason bees.  Instead of using glandular secretions to build their nests, they collect materials such as mud, chewed leaves, flower petals and pieces of animal fur.  Gardeners are often bemused to discover semicircular chunks bitten out of the edges of rose leaves, the work more often than not of leafcutter bees such as Megachile Centuncularis.  Once the bee has bitten a suitable piece of foliage from the leaf, she carries it away between her legs before chewing it into a paste ready for applying to the nest.”  (Hall p.72-74, 2010)

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“Although solitary females each make their own individual nests, some species make nests close to one another, and this concentration of similar bees can sometimes give the impression that they are in fact social insects.  Large groups of solitary bee nests are known as aggregations.  Another form of association occurs when females of particular species share a common nest site – a large cavity in a tree, for example – but each makes separate provisions for her won cells.  An advantage of this type of arrangement is that the nest site only needs to have a single common entrance, and it is therefore easier to defend from parasites and marauding predators.”  (Hall p.74, 2010)

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“These are bees that live together in a community, the most advanced type of which are known as eusocial, and are found among the bumblebees, stingless bees, and their relatives the honeybees.  In these systems, each colony has a queen and a large number of female bees called workers.  At certain times of the year, the colony also produces drones (male bees) for the purpose of mating and producing new queens.”  (Hall p.76, 2010)

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“Bumblebees (Bombus Species) are found all over the world, but tend to favor higher altitudes and latitudes than many other bee species, although some lowland tropical species also exist.  One of the reasons that bumblebees are found in cooler climes is because they are through to be able to regulate their own internal body temperatures.  Big, fuzzy and familiar for the droning or humming sound they make as they go from flower to flower.”  (Hall p.76, 2010)

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“Bumblebees form annual colonies, and it is only the mated queens that survive the winter to begin new colonies the following spring.  Then, the queen builds a nest and prepares and provisions it ready for raising her young.  The bumblebee nest is often constructed under the ground, for example, in a disused mouse’s nest, or perhaps in the dense base of tall grasses or under a compost heap in the garden.  It is a ball of grass or moss with wax cells inside.  At the peak of the season, in mid to late summer, there may be between 50 and 200 individuals in the nest consisting of the queen and workers.  The nests are rarely perennial, and new ones are built each year.  At the end of the season, unfertilized queens and drones are produced.  These mate, and the old queen, the workers and the drones then die, while the young queens disperse to find overwintering sites until they, too, will start new colonies in the spring.”  (Hall p.79-80, 2010)

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Dan Luong

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