Category: Bee Biology

I don’t know about you, but as a kid, I always associated that lovely word, proboscis, with elephants…well, maybe later on with tapirs, aardvarks, echidnas, and other such exotic creatures I read...

Jeepers, Creepers! Where’d You Get those Peepers? Bees have amazing eyes--all FIVE of them! Two are big compound eyes, and the other three are small and simple. The trio of round,...

What can serve as a nose, ears, fingers, taste buds, weather station, smoke alarm, sugar-analyzer, communication center, speedometer, compass, and much more—all rolled into one? It’s a pair of...

When the queen is removed from a colony during a hive inspection, it does not take long before the bees become aware of her absence.  Usually within a few minutes, a noticeable buzz...

Not all bees are yellow and black striped, and a bit on the fuzzy side In our area, we see several species of exquisite, small, shiny green halictid bees in the genus Agapostemon, and they are...

Honey bee water foragers. Photo credit: "beekalmer" 2011 Honey bees that collect water are specialists, a set of foragers completely distinct from nectar gatherers. It’s all they do! This...