|
|
Honey Bee - Apis mellifera
Family APIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Honey Bees that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 15mm
- Honey Bees are introduced domesticated insect, however we found many feral colony in Brisbane. They are social insects live in very large colony. Worker bees are golden brown in colour with hairy legs, thorax and head. Look carefully will find that most part of their eyes are hairy too.
- There are the dark brown and yellow bends on their abdomen. The queen bee look similar to the workers but slightly larger in size. Honey Bees will vigorously defend their nests if disturbed.
- A feral Honey Bees colony found in a living tree trunk in Moorooka, Brisbane. Hundreds of bees per second passing me when I take the above picture. They do not have problem with me when I was standing about two meters away. However, when I moved a bit closer, I started to hear very loud humming noise. I understood that those bees were giving the warning signal. I do not want to come more closer for I know what will happen if I did. I can smell the honey even meters away.
- Honey bees visit all types of flowers for the nectar and pollen.
- Above pictures show the introduced Honey Bees compete with native bees on collecting nectar.
- In Brisbane we can see worker Honey Bees visit flowers in search of pollen all year round. Besides collecting food, worker bees carry out many different tasks include building the nest, protection, ventilation, cleaning, look after the young and attend the queen.
Besides nectar and pollen, Honey Bees also collect water and resin. We often see some bees collecting water on the creek. For there is the tree hole, we will see bees collecting resin to build their nest.
Moving Nest
The next day after a thunderstorm, we found a bee nest in a fallen gum tree. The nest was in a tree hole, it became wide open because the tree hole had been broken, some nest internal parts and honey were found on the ground. This was a rare change to have a look inside a bee nest.
The bees were very busy and did not care about our peeking. They all were carrying something away from the nest. We believed they might have found a new nest and were moving into it.
Bee Predators
Although bees have their power sting weapon, they do have some predators, such as the Rubber Fly and Assassin Bug. The above picture shows a Rubber Fly feeding on a honey bee.
