Honeybee
The western honeybee (Apis mellifera) is one of the most important pollinator insects worldwide. A colony encompasses up to 80,000 individuals with complex division of labour between queen, workers and drones. Wild populations in the EU are classified as Endangered.
biology.insects
Metrics
Scientific Name
Linnaeus, 1758. Family Apidae.
Body Length
Mass (worker)
Queens are significantly heavier (approx. 200 mg).
Lifespan
Queens documented up to 8 years. Drones: 4–8 weeks.
Relations
A honeybee weighs only a fifth of a monarch butterfly but has a similar body plan.
Factor: 5 × (Masse) · Direction: A_lt_B
Explanations
The Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) is one of the world's most important pollinator insects and lives in colonies of up to 80,000 individuals – a remarkably specialized society with three castes: queen, workers, and drones. Despite their tiny size (15 mm body length, 0.1 g per worker), they fly at speeds up to 22 km/h and play a central ecological role. However, wild populations in the EU are classified as Endangered, while the global conservation status remains poorly understood.
Sources
EU: Endangered (2025). Pan-europäisch: Data Deficient.
Related Cards
Provenance
Status
seed
Review
none
Last Updated
2026-02-17