European Honeybee foraging
An Apis mellifera worker collecting some nectar. These poor bee's have had a bit of a time of it lately with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), but at least they can take solace in the knowledge that they can talk about it with their cousins the Asian honeybee. Or maybe not...depends on how well they remember... (and with which antenna!)
Although and introduced species, these bees are chief pollinators of over 100 commercially important crops (most of which are also introduced) and at least 1/3 of the American diet, giving these bees a value in the billions of dollars1 just from an agricultural point of view.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- SubPhylum
- Hexapoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Hymenoptera
- Family
- Apidae
- Genus
- Apis
- Species
- Apis mellifera
"Although and introduced species, these bees are chief pollinators of over 100 commercially important crops (most of which are also introduced) and at least 1/3 of the American diet, giving these bees a value in the billions of dollars1 just from an agricultural point of view."
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until I knew about CCD when I really started to think about how important bees are.