Tag - bee biology

quiz

Basic honey bee biology: a beginner’s quiz

May 5, 2018

21 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

wild bees and native bees

Keeping antennae shiny and clean with a built-in...

September 21, 2013

8 Comments

bee biology

Is a honey bee a single-celled organism?

March 22, 2013

6 Comments

honey bee behavior • infrequently asked questions

Why are my bees dying in the grass?

September 20, 2012

43 Comments

Honey bee exuding wax from abdomen. Photo by Debbe Krape.

beeswax • photographs

The best bee butt photo

August 9, 2012

16 Comments

A newly emerged mason bee peeks from its nesting tube. Rusty Burlew

English for beekeepers

Ocelli: tiny bee eyes

March 30, 2011

1 Comment

bee biology • honey bee management

The cyclic nature of honey bee populations

July 23, 2010

1 Comment

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

Connecticut’s state insect is the European “praying” mantis. Although they are beneficial insects, they are not native to North America.