Gif Picture: bee

bee

Any member of some 20,000 insect species (superfamily Apoidea, order Hymenoptera), incl. the familiar bumblebee. Adults range in size from about 0.08 to 1.6 in. (2 mm-4 cm). Bees are related to wasps, but, unlike wasps, which can eat other insects, most bees are entirely dependent on flowers for their food. Male bees are usually short-lived and never collect pollen; female bees make and provision the nest and usually have special anatomical structures for carrying pollen. Most species are solitary. The so-called killer bee is an Africanized subspecies of Apis mellifera (see honeybee), reached the U.S. from Mexico c.1990; killer bees react quickly and attack in number. See also K. von Frisch.