Honey Bee Worker

Distribution: Cosmopolitan Size: 15 mm Life Span: 6–9 Months Diet: Herbivorous Social life: Colony IUCN red list status: No Status Honey bees are highly social insects that live together in a colony and depend on one another for the survival of the hive. Each bee has a specific role within the hive. Drones are responsible for mating with the queen, who, in turn, lays eggs. Worker bees, all female, handle nearly all tasks required for the hive’s maintenance. Honey bees undergo four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult bee. A single colony may consist of up to 80,000 workers. Within the hive, workers perform numerous tasks: cleaning, feeding larvae (baby bees), caring for the queen, packing pollen and nectar into cells, capping cells, building and repairing honeycombs, fanning to regulate hive temperature, and guarding the hive. Honey bees have a well-developed sting, which they use effectively to defend the colony; however, a worker bee dies after using her stinger. Workers who leave the hive are known as field bees and are responsible for gathering nectar and pollen from flowers. Nectar, a sweet, watery substance collected from flowers, is processed in the bee’s stomach and then regurgitated into honeycomb cells, eventually becoming honey.