E-Fauna BC Home

Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758
European Honey Bee
Family: Apidae
Introduction to the Hymenoptera of British Columbia
Introduction to the Bumblebees of BC

Photograph

© Robert Nowland     (Photo ID #40601)

Map

E-Fauna BC Static Map

Distribution of Apis mellifera in British Columbia in British Columbia

Introduction


The European or Western Honey Bee is a species native to Europe, Asia and Africa that was introduced to North America in the 1600's (with additional introductions later on) and has since spread throughout the Americas (Wikipedia 2011). There are 24 races of the honey bee in North America (Pollinators 2011).

Honey bees forage between temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F)--below that range they become immobile, and above that range activity is much reduced Wikipedia 2011).

Research has shown that foraging distances in honey bees can be decoded from waggle dances (Beekman and Ratnieks 2000). These authors studied honey bee foraging distances in the UK by decoding waggle dances, and found "median distance foraged was 6·1 km, and the mean 5·5 km. Only 10% of the bees foraged within 0·5 km of the hive whereas 50% went more than 6 km, 25% more than 7·5 km and 10% more than 9·5 km from the hive". However, other studies have shown shorter foraging distances, the most common being 600–800 m, but that honey bees will regularly forage for several kilometers (Beekman and Ratnieks 2000).

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
ExoticSNAExoticNot Listed



BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Apis mellifica Linnaeus, 1761

Species References

Beekman, M. and F. L. W. Ratnieks. 2000. Long-range foraging by the honey-bee, Apis mellifera L. Functional Ecology 14: 490–496. Available online.

© 2014 E-Fauna BC  Contact us