Animal: Bee

Scientific Name: Numerous, depending on the type and species

Animal Type: Insect

Habitats: Various species inhabit all habitats except the Coastline and Ocean

The Bee:

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. There are slightly fewer than 20,000 known species of bee, in 9 recognized families, though the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains flowering plants.

Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.

The best-known bee species is the Western honey bee, which, as its name suggests, produces honey, as do a few other types of bee. The honey bees, and other bees living in hives, must work together to fend off intruders, gather food and workers bees must aid the queen. It is also known that honey bees perform dances to indicate the location of a pollen source. A honey bee may result to stinging if in grave danger, but will die if this occurs.

Physical Characteristics:

Bees have a long proboscis (a complex "tongue") that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. They have antennae almost universally made up of thirteen segments in males and twelve in females. Bees all have two pairs of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none are wingless.

The smallest bee is the dwarf bee, about 2.1 mm (5/64") long. The largest bee in the world is Wallace's Giant Bee of Indonesia, which can grow to a size of 39 mm (1.5"). A type of bee known as sweat bees, are the most common type of bee in the Northern Hemisphere, though they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies.

Food Chain:

Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinators in ecosystems that contain flowering plants. Bees may focus on gathering nectar or on gathering pollen, depending on their greater need at the time, especially in social species. Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of this accomplished by bees.

Solitary bees are also important pollinators, and pollen is gathered for provisioning the nest with food for their brood. Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency. Some solitary bees have very advanced types of pollen carrying structures on their bodies.

Hives versus going it alone:

Most bee species, including familiar species of bee such as the Eastern carpenter bee, alfalfa leafcutter bee, orchard mason bee and the hornfaced bee are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There are no worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax.

Solitary bees create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, holes in wood, or, most commonly, in tunnels in the ground. The female typically creates a compartment (a "cell") with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting (unless in self-defense).