Honey Bees
Lexikon
Bees are a very species-rich group of insects.
Bees are a very species-rich group of insects. Around 20,000 species are known worldwide, about 2,000 in Europe, and, depending on how they are counted, between roughly 560 and just under 600 species in Germany. The vast majority of these are wild bees, and the vast majority of wild bees are solitary: a female builds her nest alone, provisions the brood alone, and forms no colony. Only a few species live in colonies, such as bumblebees and honey bees.
Honey bees form the genus Apis. How many species belong to it depends on the scientific classification; the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture cites eight to ten species worldwide. Only one occurs in Germany, the western honey bee (Apis mellifera). Its colonies build combs of hexagonal cells from wax produced by their own bodies, which they use both for brood and for stores of honey and pollen.
A misconception that often crops up in everyday talk: anyone speaking of 'the bee' usually means only the honey bee. Yet the honey bee is a kept livestock animal, whereas wild bees live wild and are often specialized on just a few plant species. For species conservation, therefore, what counts is not the number of bee hives but a continuous supply of flowers and suitable nesting sites.
For beekeeping, though, this is not competition but a connection: a location that supports wild bees usually also carries one's own colony well through the year. Anyone starting out should first become familiar with the biology of Apis mellifera, because every beekeeping intervention is oriented around its colony behavior.