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Honeybees
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmopolitan distribution of honey bees, introducing multiple subspecies into South America (early 16th century), North America (early 17th century), and Australia (early 19th century). Honey bees are known for their construction of perennial colonial nests from wax, the large size of their colonies, and surplus production and storage of honey, distinguishing their hives as a prized foraging target of many animals, including honey badgers, bears and human hunter-gatherers. Only eight surviving species of honey bee are recognized, with a total of 43 subspecies, though historically 7 to 11 species are recognized. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees. The best known honey bee is the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primarily floral nectar) or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew of aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzymatic activity, as well as during storage in the hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey's sugars until it is thick and viscous. Honey bees stockpile honey in the hive. Within the hive is a structure made from wax called honeycomb. The honeycomb is made up of hundreds or thousands of hexagonal cells, into which the bees regurgitate honey for storage. Other honey-producing species of bee store the substance in different structures, such as the pots made of wax and resin used by the stingless bee. Honey for human consumption is collected from w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Florea
The dwarf honey bee (or red dwarf honey bee), ''Apis florea'', is one of two species of small, wild honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, '' Apis andreniformis''. First identified in the late 18th century, ''Apis florea'' is unique for its morphology, foraging behavior and defensive mechanisms like making a piping noise. ''Apis florea'' have open nests and small colonies, which makes them more susceptible to predation than cavity nesters with large numbers of defensive workers. These honey bees are important pollinators and therefore commodified in countries like Cambodia. Taxonomy and phylogeny Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius first identified ''Apis florea'' in 1787. ''A. florea'' is a member of the '' Apis'' genus. The Apidae is a diverse family of bees including honey bees, orchid bees, bumble bees, stingless bees, cuckoo bees and carpenter bees. The name Florea is a personal name of Romanian origin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Andreniformis
''Apis andreniformis'', or the black dwarf honey bee, is a relatively rare species of honey bee whose native habitat is the tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia. ''A. andreniformis'' was the fifth honey bee species to be described of the seven known species of '' Apis''. Until recently, however, the actual identity of the species was poorly understood. It was not recognized as its own species, but was instead considered to be a part of the species ''Apis florea.'' Recent studies have highlighted notable differences between the bees and have thus separated them into distinct species. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Apis andreniformis'' is a part of the family Apidae, which includes honey, cuckoo, carpenter, digger, bumble, and stingless bees. The genus ''Apis'' includes honey bees, the most common being '' Apis mellifera'', otherwise known as the Western honey bee. ''A. andreniformis'' is most closely related to ''Apis florea'', its sister species with which it is comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Nigrocincta
''Apis nigrocincta'' is a species of honey bee that inhabits the Philippine island of Mindanao as well as the Indonesian islands of Sangihe and Sulawesi. The species is known to have queens with the highest mating frequencies of any species of the tribe Apini. It is a middle-sized species of the tribe'' Apini'', compared to the larger '' A. dorsata'' or smaller '' A. florea''. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Apis nigrocincta'' is part of subfamily Apinae within the Hymenopteran family Apidae. Apidae is the largest family of bees consisting of over 5,600 species, with the only bees that are colonized by humans for honey production. The subfamily Apinae includes a majority of the honey bee species, with 19 tribes; ''A. nigrocincta'' is part of Apini. Unlike the stingless honeybees of genus ''Meliponini'', ''A. nigrocincta'' is part of the genus ''Apis'' of true honeybees. The genus ''Apis'' is split into three major lineages – dwarf, giant, and cavity-nesting honeybees. ''Apis nigroc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Dorsata
''Apis dorsata'', the giant honey bee, सिङ्गुस in Nepali, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia, found mainly in forested areas such as the Terai of Nepal. They are typically around long. Nests are mainly built in exposed places far off the ground, like on tree limbs, under cliff overhangs, and sometimes on buildings. These social bees are known for their aggressive defense strategies and vicious behavior when disturbed. Though not domesticating it, indigenous peoples have traditionally used this species as a source of honey and beeswax, a practice known as honey hunting. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Apis dorsata'' belongs to the family Apidae, which is in the class Insecta. This honeybee is most closely related to ''Apis mellifera'', (the western honey bee) ''Apis cerana'', and ''Apis florea''. ''Apis dorsata'' belongs to the subgenus ''Megapis''. There are a few hypotheses as to when ''Apis dorsata'' diverged from both ''Apis florea'' and ''Apis cerana,'' as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Honey Bee
The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for "honey-bearing" or "honey carrying", referring to the species' production of honey. Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or " drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the dance language. The western honey bee was one of the first domesticated insects, and it is the primary species maintained by beekeepers to this day for both its honey production and pollination activities. With human assistance, the western honey bee now occupies every continent except Antarctic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Koschevnikovi
''Apis koschevnikovi'', Koschevnikov's honey bee, is a species of honey bee which inhabits Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo, where it lives sympatrically with other honey bee species such as ''Apis cerana'' (specifically '' A. c. nuluensis''). The species was first described by Hugo Berthold von Buttel-Reepen, who dedicated it to Grigory Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov (1866–1933), a pioneer of honey bee morphology. This was an invalid designation, however, and the name was first formally made available by Günther Enderlein that same year. Therefore, Buttel-Reepen is not the author of the name (following the ICZN). The species was described again by Maa in 1953, this time with the name ''Apis vechti''. It was finally rediscovered by Tingek and his colleagues in 1988. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Apis koschevnikovi'' is of the family Apidae and genus ''Apis''. ''A. koschevnikovi'' is known as one of the “Red Bees” of Borneo, described in 1988. ''A. koschevnikovi'' appears toget ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Mellifera
The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for "honey-bearing" or "honey carrying", referring to the species' production of honey. Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or " queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or " drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the dance language. The western honey bee was one of the first domesticated insects, and it is the primary species maintained by beekeepers to this day for both its honey production and pollination activities. With human assistance, the western honey bee now occupies every continent except Antarctica. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eusocial
Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society which are sometimes referred to as 'castes'. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform at least one behavior characteristic of individuals in another caste. Eusocial colonies can be viewed as superorganisms. Eusociality exists in certain insects, crustaceans, and mammals. It is mostly observed and studied in the Hymenoptera ( ants, bees, and wasps) and in Blattodea ( termites). A colony has caste differences: queens and reproductive males take the roles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foraging
Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment where the animal lives. Behavioral ecologists use economic models and categories to understand foraging; many of these models are a type of optimal model. Thus foraging theory is discussed in terms of optimizing a payoff from a foraging decision. The payoff for many of these models is the amount of energy an animal receives per unit time, more specifically, the highest ratio of energetic gain to cost while foraging. Foraging theory predicts that the decisions that maximize energy per unit time and thus deliver the highest payoff will be selected for and persist. Key words used to describe foraging behavior include ''resources'', the elements necessary for survival and reproduction which have a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apis Cerana
''Apis cerana'', the eastern honey bee, Asiatic honey bee or Asian honey bee, is a species of honey bee native to South, Southeast and East Asia. This species is the sister species of ''Apis koschevnikovi'' and both are in the same subgenus as the western (European) honey bee, ''Apis mellifera''. Engel, M.S. (1999) The taxonomy of recent and fossil honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: ''Apis''). ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' 8: pp. 165–196. ''A. cerana'' is known to live sympatrically along with ''Apis koschevnikovi'' within the same geographic location. ''Apis cerana'' colonies are known for building nests consisting of multiple combs in cavities containing a small entrance, presumably for defense against invasion by individuals of another nest.Nanork, P., et al. "Social parasitism by workers in queenless and queenright Apis cerana colonies." Molecular ecology 16.5 (2007): 1107-1114. The diet of this honey bee species consists mostly of pollen and nectar, or honey.Haydak, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmopolitan Distribution
In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The extreme opposite of a cosmopolitan species is an endemic one, being found only in a single geographical location. Qualification The caveat “in appropriate habitat” is used to qualify the term "cosmopolitan distribution", excluding in most instances polar regions, extreme altitudes, oceans, deserts, or small, isolated islands. For example, the housefly is highly cosmopolitan, yet is neither oceanic nor polar in its distribution. Related terms and concepts The term pandemism also is in use, but not all authors are consistent in the sense in which they use the term; some speak of pandemism mainly in referring to diseases and pandemics, and some as a term intermediate between endemism and cosmopolitanism, in effect regarding pandemism as su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
