Tag - swarm cell

A small round queen cup attached to burr comb.

queen bees

The magic of queen cups: here today, gone tomorrow

February 2, 2023

12 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

queen bees

Should I destroy extra queen cells?

March 29, 2016

47 Comments

honey bee behavior • queen bees

Two queens in one hive

July 8, 2011

47 Comments

honey bee management • how to • making increase

Splitting the top-bar hive with a shook swarm

June 3, 2011

23 Comments

beekeeping equipment • honey bee management • queen rearing

Keeping a nuc might look like a waste, but it’s...

February 15, 2011

61 Comments

swarming

How to know a swarm cell from a supersedure cell

May 11, 2010

139 Comments

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.