Three Acre Tablea garden, a kitchen, a good excuse to gather
Apis mellifera
Plate — illustration to come
BeeNon-native · Beneficial

European Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

Apidae

The bee everyone knows — and the one that gets most of the credit for pollination while the natives do most of the work. Non-native to North America. Essential to commercial agriculture; complicated for native pollinator conservation.

Identify by

How to spot one.

  • Uniformly fuzzy tan-and-brown striped body (~0.5 inch)

  • Packed pollen baskets on the hind legs (bright yellow or orange)

  • Straight, hovering flight between flowers

  • Managed colonies live in wooden hives

Life & behavior

How it lives.

Highly social. A colony contains one queen and 20,000–60,000 workers plus seasonal drones. Cannot buzz-pollinate — useless on tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and inefficient on blueberries. Overwinters as a full colony (unlike bumble bees).

At a glance

The spec sheet.

Type
Bee
Active
March – November
Native to NJ
No — see origin
Origin
Native to Europe, Africa, and western Asia. Brought to North America by European settlers around 1622.
Conservation status
abundant
Family
Apidae
Plants it uses

What it needs.

Plants this species visits, feeds on, or depends on. Names in hydrangea link to the plant’s Field Guide entry.

  • Apples, pears, plums, peaches (fruit tree crops)

    Primary pollinator

  • Highbush Blueberry

    Nectar source

  • Cranberries (commercial NJ crop)

    Primary pollinator

  • Most garden flowers and many wildflowers

    Nectar source

Conservation

Not conservation-listed. Global populations are stable to increasing thanks to managed beekeeping. Colony Collapse Disorder press coverage refers to managed colonies, not wild native bees.

Sources

Rutgers NJAES · USDA · Xerces Society (native bee advocacy)

More bees

Others in this group.