20 Interesting Facts About Bees

1. There are around 20,000 known species of bees. The most famous are honey bees, bumblebees, sweat bees, and stingless bees. (Source)
2. Bees are present on every continent except Antarctica. Unlike birds and mammals, bees are generally present in dry, temperate areas instead of the tropical environments. The largest concentration of bees are in parts of the US, Middle East, and Africa. (Source)
3. The smallest bee species, Perdita minima, is less than 2mm long and weighs 0.333 mg. It is native to the USA. (Source)
4. The Indonesian-native Megachile Pluto is the largest bee at 4cm in length. After remaining invisible for 38 years, it reemerged in 2019. (Source)
5. 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)
6. 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.
7. Only female bees and wasps have stingers and venom glands. Male bees can’t defend themselves by injecting venom.
8. The most ancient family of bees is Apidae, which originated around 87 million years ago. It is also the largest bee family, with more than 5,700 species. Honeybees, bumblebees, stingless bees, orchid bees, carpenter bees, and cuckoo bees are famous members of this family. 
9. Stenotritidae is the smallest and newest family of bees. There are only 21 species in this bee family, which originated around 2 million years ago.
10. The name of sweat bees is due to their attraction toward perspiration. It is the second-largest bee family with nearly 4,500 species. 
11. Few species of bees act as parasites. They are either kleptoparasites (like cuckoo bees that lay eggs on pollen-masses of other bees) or brood parasites (some members of the megachilids family that take food from host bees).
12. It is a misconception that only honeybees can produce honey. But in fact, stingless bees and bumblebees can also produce honey. Honey produced by stingless bees has higher water content than honeybee’s honey. Few other insects can also produce honey. (Source)
13. Bumblebees are known as the smartest insects in the world. They minimize the distance while traveling from flower to flower by using a technique that is even difficult to understand for modern supercomputers. (Source)
14. Bumblebees stimulate plants to produce flowers earlier by making tiny incisions in their leaves. They use this method when pollen sources are scarce. (Source)

    

    Bumblebees use strange techniques that benefit the bee and flowers

    
    
15. Bumblebees are one of few insects that use the buzz-pollination technique to extract pollen deep inside some flowers. These bees vibrate violently, known as sonication, to complete this process. This assists in the pollination of major plants like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, blueberries, cranberries, etc. (Source)
16. Bumblebees are less likely to sting as compared to hornets and honeybees. But in contrast to honeybees, they can sting multiple times.
17. Bumblebees secrete a substance from their feet to any surface they visit. It is like fingerprints in humans. They can easily distinguish their scent marks from their sisters or strangers. (Source)
18. Bumblebees use their wings to keep a constant temperature (from 28 to 32 Celsius) in their hive. They cool the hive by fanning with their wings. Conversely, they vibrate their wings muscle to increase the hive’s temperature in cold weather. (Source)
19. Stingless beekeeping started in ancient Aztec and Maya cultures. They were the main source of honey and beeswax in the Americas before the introduction of honeybees. 
20. Stingless bees are devoid of stings. But they defend their nests by using painful bites through their mandibular teeth. Few aggressive species of stingless bees even suffer fatal damage while biting. (Source)