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Jan 5, 2024 · What family are honey bees in? Do bees have families? Yes, some bees have “families.” Depending on the bee species, they can live in a family unit, or they may be solitary bees that live alone. For instance, honey bees and bumble bees are social bees that live in colonies.
- Apidae. The largest bee family is the Apidae which is made up of over 5,700 species. They live in colonies that include a queen and worker bees. The family Apidae is believed to date back as far back as 115 million years ago.
- Halictidae. Bees from the Halictidae are small ground nesters that have a fascinating metallic sheen. It may be up to 96 million years old and contains almost 4,500 species, making it the second largest family.
- Megachilidae. The Megachilidae family are solitary bees that can quickly be identified by their oversized head and mandible. There are about 4,000 species that make up 15-20% of the world’s bee population.
- Andrenidae. The family Andrenidae are known as mining bees or digger bees and have around 3,000 species. They are solitary bees that are usually found in dry, temperate climates.
Jan 29, 2014 · Just a few years ago there were eleven families of bees, then nine, now seven. Even so, there are more species of bees—about 20,000—than species of mammals and birds combined, so that’s a lot of bees. Dividing all those species into families with similar traits helps us to understand them.
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. [1]
What are the different bee families? How many are there, how do scientists decide how to group bees together, and which bee belongs in each family? Firstly, all bees belong to the insect or Super-family 'Apoidea'. Apoidea also includes 'sphecoid wasps', from which bees are descended.
Anyway, here’s a quick rundown of the seven families of bees: Andrenidae: This family comprises the mining bees, all of which live underground. The bees carry pollen on their hind legs and many species are incapable of stinging. Apidae: This family includes, honey bees, bumble bees, digger bees, squash bees, and carpenter bees. Many of the ...
4 days ago · Male bees are usually short-lived and never collect pollen, nor do they have other responsibilities in connection with providing for the young. Female bees do all the work of nest making and provisioning and usually have special anatomical structures that assist them in carrying pollen.
