20+ Interesting Facts About Bees

There are around 20,000 known species of bees. The most famous are honey bees, bumblebees, sweat bees, and stingless bees. ( Source ) Bees are present on every continent except Antarctica . The smallest bee species , Perdita minima, is less than 2mm long and weighs 0.333 mg . It is native to the USA. ( Source ) The Indonesian-native Megachile Pluto is the largest bee at 4cm in length. After remaining invisible for 38 years, it was rediscovered in 2019. ( Source ) A noticeable advantage of bees on earth is the pollination of a large number of flowering plants . Around 75% of all fruits and seeds around the world depend on bee pollination. Bees also support at least 87 crops through pollination. ( Source ) Several unique features distinguish bees from closely related groups , especially wasps. These include branched hairs, different arrangements of veins in their wings, combs on the forelimbs (for cleaning their antennae), etc. Only female bees and wasps have stingers an