Insect ID card |
|
|---|---|
Scientific name |
Apis mellifera mellifera. |
Common name |
Black bee, Domestic bee, European bee, Honey fly. |
Family |
Apides. |
Subfamily |
Apines. |
Order |
Hymenoptera. |
The black bee is the West European subspecies of the honey bee (
Apis mellifera
) present mainly in the world and comprising 24 subspecies.
It is a so-called “honey bee” because it produces large quantities of honey.
What are the characteristics of the black bee?
The size of the black bee differs depending on its rank.
The worker measures 11 to 13 mm and the male, also called drone, 15 to 16 mm.
As for the queen, its size varies between 15 and 20 mm.
The body of the black bee is
rather stocky
and its abdomen is dark brown to black and has stripes.
The workers have curved hind legs in the shape of a basket in order to collect and transport the precious pollen in the form of a “ball”.
The black bee stands out from other breeds of bees by its performance in pollinating flowers.
It also collects
nectar,
a sweet substance secreted by certain flowers.
She collects it, thanks to her short trunk, sucks it up and keeps it in her crop without digesting it.
Once returned to the hive, it regurgitates it into the crop of a recipient bee.
Honey comes from nectar.
The black bee is characterized by its late honey flows, in August and even beyond.
The black bee stands out from other breeds of bees by its performance in pollinating flowers.
Copyright (c) 2017 R. de Bruijn_Photography/Shutterstock.
No use without permission.
Also read: The carpenter bee: the largest bee in Europe
Where do black bees live?
Black bees are found in temperate Europe, Asia Minor and Africa.
They can be observed
everywhere in France
.
These are the bees that adapt best to their environment and climatic conditions.
They are, moreover, capable of flying when temperatures are low and of regulating their consumption of honey in winter.
Black bees can
live in the wild or be domesticated
to live in a man-made hive.
Wild black bees build their swarms in natural habitats (hollow trees, wall cracks, chimneys, etc.).
And they tend to disappear due to different factors: pesticides, loss of biodiversity linked to intensive agriculture, viruses, parasites, Asian hornets, etc.
How does the laying of black bee queens take place?
The black queen bee has
a
lifespan of 5 to 7 years
.
She is fed royal jelly and spends her life laying eggs.
She is fertilized only once in her life by 5 to 6 drones.
It then stores up to 6 million sperm in its spermatheca.
After 3 and a half days of gestation, she deposits her eggs in the cells of the swarm.
If the egg is fertilized, it gives birth to a worker, otherwise a drone.
In spring, the queen can
lay
up to 1,500 eggs per day
and give life to 50,000 bees in a season.
Also read: Install a bee hive at home: everything you need to know
The black queen bee has a lifespan of 5 to 7 years.
Copyright (c) 2020 Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova/Shutterstock.
No use without permission.
Workers have a lifespan of
56 days
.
During their first 3 weeks of life, they work in the hive: building and cleaning the cells, feeding the bee larvae and males, protecting the hive.
They then become foragers and can visit 500 to 1000 flowers per day.
Males do not have
a sting
and their proboscis is too small to feed, which is why they depend on workers.
Their only role is to fertilize the queen, knowing that their genitals remain attached to the queen: they therefore die after fertilization.
Do black bees sting?
They can sting to defend their habitat.
However, if left undisturbed, they are gentle and completely harmless bees.