Western honey bee: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the western honey bee lives – recorded in 42 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Apis mellifera
Group	Bees, wasps & ants
Status	Data deficient (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	42 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Diet (main food)	nectar, pollen
Class	Insect
Order	Hymenoptera
Family	Apidae

Where does the western honey bee live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the western honey bee in 42 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Michigan. In Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Sweden, United States it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Poland
United Kingdom
France (introduced)
United States (introduced)
Germany
Belgium
Australia (introduced)
Sweden (introduced)
Finland
Canada
South Korea
Ireland
Norway
Denmark (introduced)
Brazil (introduced)
Mexico (introduced)
Austria
Colombia (introduced)
South Africa
Russia
Argentina (introduced)
New Zealand (introduced)
Spain
Italy
Peru (introduced)
Netherlands
Portugal (introduced)
Isle of Man
Ukraine
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Costa Rica (introduced)
Greece
Serbia
Kenya
Chinese Taipei
Japan (introduced)
Turkey
Ethiopia
Hungary
Ecuador (introduced)

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What does a western honey bee eat?

Wikidata lists the main food source of the western honey bee as: nectar, pollen.

Is the western honey bee endangered?

The western honey bee’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Data deficient” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the western honey bee?

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an insect in the order Hymenoptera and the family Apidae, genus Apis. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the western honey bee

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for 'bee', and mellifera is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', referring to the species' production of honey.

Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the waggle dance.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Western honey bee (revision 1378342627), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q30034 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).