Honey Bee

Insect Order: Hymenoptera

There are about 20,000 kinds of honey bees. Out of them 3 families, i.e. Bombidae, Meliponidae, and Apidae produce honey.

Apidae is the main honey producing family.

Four species of Honeybee are:

Apis carana Fabricius

Apis dorsata Fabricius

Apis florea Fabricus

Apis mellifera Linnaeus

Apis carana Fabricius

This honey bee makes parallel combs on hollow cavities present in trees, rocks etc. This bee yields about 3.5-4.5 Kg of honey in colder areas and 1.5-2.5 Kg of honey in warm areas.

Apis dorsata Fabricius

This honey bee makes large hives and hangs from high buildings, trees, rocks, etc. Their colonies shift from place to place in search of honey. This honey can produce 36 Kg of honey per colony per year. This bee makes vertical combs.

Apis florea Fabricus

This bee is the smallest of all these bees and makes a single vertical comb. This honey bee is not good in honey production and produces about 0.5 Kg of honey and consistency of honey is also thin.

Apis mellifera Linnaeus

This honey bee is the favorite of beekeepers around the world. This honey bee has adapted itself to the modern frame hives. This honey can yield about 50-100 kg per colony per year.