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honeycomb

The difference between honeycomb & honey cone is a...

November 7, 2019

22 Comments

English for beekeepers • varroa mites

Varroa: a mite by any other name

February 6, 2017

18 Comments

A pile of wooden Scrabble tiles: Using the right words like phoretic makes you a better beekeeper.

English for beekeepers

The vocabulary of beekeeping: phoretic

September 7, 2016

13 Comments

English for beekeepers

Bee words having Latin plurals

July 11, 2016

22 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

English for beekeepers • writing and blogging

Comb decoded

June 13, 2014

7 Comments

writing and blogging

Teeth, tombs, or waffle cones?

October 10, 2013

9 Comments

extra

Conversing in Canadian

September 30, 2013

4 Comments

infrequently asked questions

Is a solitary bee a mason bee?

August 23, 2013

5 Comments

beekeeping humor

She’s been framed! Funny beekeeping search terms

January 13, 2013

9 Comments

Pollen tramp. Photo by earthobservatory.nasa.gov

beekeeping humor

Searching for humor, the beekeeping kind

February 15, 2012

18 Comments

English for beekeepers • varietal honey

Wednesday wordphile: terroir

December 21, 2011

bee stories • English for beekeepers • miscellaneous musings

Are they worker bees, girls, or units?

June 16, 2011

18 Comments

Here we see a queen and her workers, two castes of honey bees.

English for beekeepers

Casting light on honey bee castes

September 26, 2010

2 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.