Apis mellifera

European honey bee at Karabar, NSW

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Identification history

Apis mellifera	26 Sep 2016	KimPullen
Apis mellifera	26 Sep 2016	KimPullen
Unidentified	25 Sep 2016	Speedsta

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5 comments

Speedsta wrote:

26 Sep 2016

Looks like his sacks of pollen are full

KimPullen wrote:

26 Sep 2016

Yes she is carrying a lot of pollen. She packs it onto special brushes on her back legs.

Speedsta wrote:

26 Sep 2016

I thought only the Queen was female and the rest were male drones?

KimPullen wrote:

27 Sep 2016

In a Honey Bee colony there are 3 castes: queens, workers and drones. The ones you see on flowers are workers, which are sterile females. The queens, of which there is only one or a few, are the reproductive females. The drones are the males. The only function of the males is to mate, which they do when the colony swarms. A clue that Honey Bee workers are female is that they can sting, because the sting apparatus in bees, ants and wasps is part of a modified ovipositor (egg-laying organ).

Speedsta wrote:

27 Sep 2016

Thanks so much for the insight, my daughters and I found it very educational.

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