SymptomsBee stings can produce different reactions, ranging from temporary pain and discomfort to a severe allergic reaction. Having one type of reaction doesn't mean you'll always have the same reaction every time you're stung or that the next reaction will necessarily be more severe. Mild reactionMost of the time, bee sting symptoms are minor and include:. Instant, sharp burning pain at the sting site. A red welt at the sting area. Slight swelling around the sting areaIn most people, the swelling and pain go away within a few hours.

Moderate reactionSome people who get stung by a bee or other insect have a bit stronger reaction, with signs and symptoms such as:. Extreme redness. Swelling at the site of the sting that gradually enlarges over the next day or twoModerate reactions tend to resolve over five to 10 days. Having a moderate reaction doesn't mean you'll have a severe allergic reaction the next time you're stung. But some people develop similar moderate reactions each time they're stung.

One of the Lily Looks™ series developed in the Netherlands. Bred originally for containers, these are versatile garden plants as well. The dwarf habit makes them.

If this happens to you, talk to your doctor about treatment and prevention, especially if the reaction becomes more severe each time. Severe allergic reactionA severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) to bee stings is potentially life-threatening and requires emergency treatment. A small percentage of people who are stung by a bee or other insect quickly develop anaphylaxis. Sea dogs crossword. Signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis include:. Skin reactions, including hives and itching and flushed or pale skin. Difficulty breathing.

Swelling of the throat and tongue. A weak, rapid pulse. Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Dizziness or fainting. Loss of consciousnessPeople who have a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting have a 25% to 65% chance of anaphylaxis the next time they're stung. Talk to your doctor or an allergy specialist about prevention measures such as immunotherapy ('allergy shots') to avoid a similar reaction in case you get stung again. Multiple bee stingsGenerally, insects such as bees and wasps aren't aggressive and only sting in self-defense.

In most cases, this results in one or perhaps a few stings. In some cases a person will disrupt a hive or swarm of bees and get multiple stings. Some types of bees — such as Africanized honeybees — are more likely than are other bees to swarm, stinging in a group.If you get stung more than a dozen times, the accumulation of venom may induce a toxic reaction and make you feel quite sick. Signs and symptoms include:. Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Headache. A feeling of spinning (vertigo).

Convulsions. Fever.

Dizziness or faintingMultiple stings can be a medical emergency in children, older adults, and people who have heart or breathing problems. When to see a doctorIn most cases, bee stings don't require a visit to your doctor. In more-severe cases, you'll need immediate care.Call 911 or other emergency services if you're having a serious reaction to a bee sting that suggests anaphylaxis, even if it's just one or two signs or symptoms.

If you were prescribed an emergency epinephrine autoinjector (EpiPen, Auvi-Q, others), use it right away as your doctor directed.Seek prompt medical care if you've been swarmed by bees and have multiple stings.Make an appointment to see your doctor if:. Bee sting symptoms don't go away within a few days. You've had other symptoms of an allergic response to a bee sting. CausesTo sting, a bee jabs a barbed stinger into the skin. Bee sting venom contains proteins that affect skin cells and the immune system, causing pain and swelling around the sting area.

In people with a bee sting allergy, bee venom can trigger a more-serious immune system reaction. Risk factorsYou're at increased risk of bee stings if:. You live in an area where bees are especially active or with beehives nearby.

Your work or hobbies require spending time outsideYou're more likely to have an allergic reaction to bee stings if you've had an allergic reaction to a bee sting in the past, even if it was minor.Adults tend to have more-severe reactions than children do and are more likely to die of anaphylaxis than children are. PreventionThe following tips can help reduce your risk of getting stung by bees:. Take care when drinking sweet beverages outside. Wide, open cups may be your best option because you can see if a bee is in them. Bee, yellow jacket, wasp and Hymenoptera stings: Reaction types and acute management. Accessed July 18, 2016. Stinging insect allergy.

American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Accessed July 18, 2016. Thompson DA.

In: Adult Telephone Protocols. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2018. Bites and stings. American College of Emergency Physicians. Accessed July 18, 2016. Marx JA, et al., eds. Venomous animal injuries.

In: Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2014. Accessed July 18, 2016. Campbell RL, et al. Anaphylaxis: Emergency treatment. Accessed July 18, 2016. AskMayoExpert.

Stinging insert allergy. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2019. Casale TB, et al. Hymenoptera-sting hypersensitivity. New England Journal of Medicine.

2014;370:1432. Tracy JM. Diagnosis of Hymenoptera venom allergy. Accessed July 24, 2019.

.Apiformes (from Latin )Bees are flying closely related to and, known for their role in and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the, for producing. Bees are a lineage within the superfamily and are presently considered a, called Anthophila.

There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized. They are found on every continent except, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated.Some species — including, and — live in colonies. Bees are adapted for feeding on and, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for. Bee pollination is important both ecologically. The decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees.Bees range in size from tiny species whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long, to, the largest species of, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in).

The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as; insect predators include and.Human or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of. Apart from honey and pollination, honey bees produce beeswax,. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature, from ancient times to the present day, though primarily focused in the, where beekeeping is far more common.The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980. A fossil bee preserved in from the (100 to 145 million years ago) ofThe ancestors of bees were in the family, which were of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects which were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae. This same scenario may have occurred within the wasps, where the evolved from predatory ancestors.

Until recently, the oldest non-compression bee fossil had been found in New Jersey, Cretotrigona prisca of, a. A bee fossil from the (100 mya), is considered 'an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea to the modern bees'. Derived features of its morphology place it clearly within the bees, but it retains two unmodified ancestral traits of the legs (two mid-tibial spurs, and a slender hind basitarsus), showing its transitional status.

By the (45 mya) there was already considerable diversity among eusocial bee lineages.The highly appeared roughly 87 Mya, and the (within the Apidae) around 53 Mya.The appear as fossils only from the late (25 Mya) to early.The are known from Palaeomacropis eocenicus in the.The are known from trace fossils (characteristic leaf cuttings) from the.The are known from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, around 34 Mya, of the Florissant shale.The first appear in the Early Eocene with species found in amber. The are known from fossil brood cells of age. Further information:The earliest animal-pollinated flowers were shallow, cup-shaped blooms by insects such as, so the was well established before the first appearance of bees. The novelty is that bees are as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that specifically enhance pollination, and are the most efficient pollinating insects. In a process of, flowers developed floral rewards such as and longer tubes, and bees developed longer tongues to extract the nectar. Bees also developed structures known as and to collect and carry pollen.

The location and type differ among and between groups of bees. Most species have scopal hairs on their hind legs or on the underside of their abdomens. Some species in the family Apidae have on their hind legs, while very few lack these and instead collect pollen in their crops.

The appearance of these structures drove the of the, and, in turn, bees themselves. Bees coevolved not only with flowers but it is believed that some species coevolved with mites. Some provide tufts of hairs called acarinaria that appear to provide lodgings for mites; in return, it is believed that mites eat fungi that attack pollen, so the relationship in this case may be. Phylogeny ExternalThis is based on Debevic et al, 2012, which used molecular phylogeny to demonstrate that the bees arose from deep within the Crabronidae, which is therefore. The placement of the is uncertain. The small subfamily was not included in this analysis.Apoidea(Cockroach wasps)(possible placement #1)( )(part of ')(rest of '),(possible placement #2),(bees)InternalThis cladogram of the bee families is based on Hedtke et al., 2013, which places the former families Dasypodaidae and Meganomiidae as subfamilies inside the Melittidae.

English names, where available, are given in parentheses.(bees)(inc., ) at least 50 Mya. The lapping of a honey bee, showing labium and maxillaeBees differ from closely related groups such as wasps by having branched or plume-like (hairs), combs on the forelimbs for cleaning their antennae, small anatomical differences in limb structure, and the venation of the hind wings; and in females, by having the seventh dorsal abdominal plate divided into two half-plates.Bees have the following characteristics:. A pair of large which cover much of the surface of the head. Between and above these are three small simple eyes which provide information on light intensity. The usually have 13 segments in males and 12 in females, and are, having an elbow joint part way along. They house large numbers of sense organs that can detect touch (mechanoreceptors), smell and taste; and small, hairlike mechanoreceptors that can detect air movement so as to 'hear' sounds.

The are adapted for both chewing and sucking by having both a pair of and a long for sucking up nectar. The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of robust legs, and a pair of membranous wings on the hind two segments. The front legs of corbiculate bees bear combs for cleaning the antennae, and in many species the hind legs bear pollen baskets, flattened sections with incurving hairs to secure the collected pollen. The wings are synchronised in flight, and the somewhat smaller hind wings connect to the forewings by a row of hooks along their margin which connect to a groove in the forewing. The abdomen has nine segments, the hindermost three being modified into the sting. Willing to die for their sisters: worker honey bees killed defending their hive against, along with a dead yellowjacket. Such behaviour may be favoured by the system of bees.According to theory, organisms can gain fitness not just through increasing their own reproductive output, but also that of close relatives.

In evolutionary terms, individuals should help relatives when Cost. Further information:Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with colonies; these are characterised by cooperative brood care and a into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called.

In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the ) and her daughters. When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.True honey bees (genus, of which seven species are currently recognized) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known insects.

Their colonies are established by, consisting of a queen and several hundred workers. There are 29 subspecies of one of these species, native to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Are a hybrid strain of A. Mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.are also highly. They practise, with complex nest architecture and perennial colonies also established via swarming.

A carrying pollen in its (corbiculae)Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial such as in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming. Bumblebee colonies typically have from 50 to 200 bees at peak population, which occurs in mid to late summer.

Nest architecture is simple, limited by the size of the pre-existing nest cavity, and colonies rarely last more than a year. In 2011, the set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the criteria.There are many more species of primitively eusocial than highly eusocial bees, but they have been studied less often. Most are in the family, or 'sweat bees'.

Colonies are typically small, with a dozen or fewer workers, on average. Queens and workers differ only in size, if at all. Most species have a single season colony cycle, even in the tropics, and only mated females hibernate. A few species have long active seasons and attain colony sizes in the hundreds, such as. Some species are eusocial in parts of their range and solitary in others, or have a mix of eusocial and solitary nests in the same population. The (Apidae) include some primitively eusocial species with similar biology.

Some bees (Apidae) form primitively eusocial colonies, with: a larva's food is supplied gradually as it develops, as is the case in honey bees and some bumblebees. Solitary and communal bees. A leafcutting bee, cutting circles from acacia leavesMost other bees, including familiar insects such as, and are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor.Bees collect pollen to feed their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee from carcases to feed their offspring. Solitary bees are important pollinators; they gather pollen to provision their nests with food for their brood.

Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency. Some solitary bees have advanced types of pollen-carrying structures on their bodies.

Very few species of solitary bee are being cultured for commercial pollination. Most of these species belong to a distinct set of which are commonly known by their nesting behavior or preferences, namely: carpenter bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees,. A solitary bee, (family ), visitingMost solitary bees nest in the ground in a variety of soil textures and conditions while others create nests in hollow or twigs, holes in. The female typically creates a compartment (a 'cell') with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. A nest may consist of numerous cells.

When the nest is in wood, usually the last (those closer to the entrance) contain eggs that will become males. The adult does not provide care for the brood once the egg is laid, and usually dies after making one or more nests.

The males typically emerge first and are ready for mating when the females emerge. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting (only in self-defense, if ever). The nests in a hole in dead wood. Are often sold for this purpose.While solitary, females each make individual nests. Some species, such as the European mason bee, and the, Amegilla dawsoni, are gregarious, preferring to make nests near others of the same species, and giving the appearance of being social. Large groups of solitary bee nests are called aggregations, to distinguish them from. In some species, multiple females share a common nest, but each makes and provisions her own cells independently.

This type of group is called 'communal' and is not uncommon. The primary advantage appears to be that a nest entrance is easier to defend from predators and parasites when there are multiple females using that same entrance on a regular basis. Biology Life cycle. Further information:The life cycle of a bee, be it a solitary or social species, involves the laying of an egg, the development through several moults of a legless, a stage during which the insect undergoes, followed by the emergence of a winged adult. Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate.

The sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilised; after mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilised eggs producing female offspring and unfertilised eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no stage.The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and in each segment for breathing.

They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle.

There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into an winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the and breaks out of the cell. Further information:'s 1934 book Le vol des insectes, says that he and had applied the equations of to and found that their flight could not be explained by fixed-wing calculations, but that 'One shouldn't be surprised that the results of the calculations don't square with reality'. This has led to a common misconception that bees 'violate aerodynamic theory'.

In fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used. In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift. High-speed and robotic mock-up of a bee wing showed that lift was generated by 'the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency'. Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small, it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller. Navigation, communication, and finding food. Further information: andThe ethologist studied in the honey bee.

He showed that honey bees communicate by the, in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the sun, by the pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth's magnetic field. He showed that the sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a 'rich, map-like organization'. DigestionThe gut of bees is relatively simple, but multiple metabolic strategies exist in the gut. Pollinating bees consume nectar and pollen, which require different digestion strategies by somewhat specialized bacteria. While nectar is a liquid of mostly sugars and so easily absorbed, pollen contains complex: branching.

Approximately five groups of bacteria are involved in digestion. Three groups specialize in simple sugars ( and two groups of ), and two other groups in complex sugars ( and ). Digestion of pectin and hemicellulose is dominated by bacterial Gilliamella and respectively. Bacteria that cannot digest polysaccharides obtain enzymes from their neighbors, and bacteria that lack certain amino acids do the same, creating multiple.Although most bee species are and, some are not.

Particularly unusual are in the genus, which consume carrion and wasp brood, turning meat into a honey-like substance. Ecology Floral relationshipsMost bees are polylectic (generalist) meaning they collect pollen from a range of flowering plants, but some are (specialists), in that they only gather pollen from one or a few species or genera of closely related plants.

Specialist pollinators also include bee species which gather floral oils instead of pollen, and male orchid bees, which gather aromatic compounds from (one of the few cases where male bees are effective pollinators). Bees are able to sense the presence of desirable flowers through ultraviolet patterning on flowers, floral odors, and even electromagnetic fields. Once landed, a bee then uses nectar quality and pollen taste to determine whether to continue visiting similar flowers.In rare cases, a species may only be effectively pollinated by a single bee species, and some plants are at least in part because their pollinator is also threatened. But, there is a pronounced tendency for oligolectic bees to be associated with common, widespread plants visited by multiple pollinator species.

For example, the in the arid parts of the United States southwest is associated with some 40 oligoleges. As mimics and models. Main articles: andoccur in several bee families including the subfamily. Females of these species lack pollen collecting structures (the ) and do not construct their own nests. They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the 'cuckoo' bee larva hatches, it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and often the host egg also. In particular, the Arctic bee species, is an aggressive species that attacks and enslaves other bees of the same subgenus.

However, unlike many other bee brood parasites, they have pollen baskets and often collect pollen.In Southern Africa, hives of African honeybees ( A. Mellifera scutellata) are being destroyed by parasitic workers of the Cape honeybee, A. These lay eggs ('), escaping normal, leading to the colony's destruction; the parasites can then move to other hives.The in the subgenus Psithyrus are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size. This common pattern gave rise to the ecological principle '. Others parasitize bees in different families, like, a, two species of which are cleptoparasites of the genus, while the other species in the same genus attacks bees.

Nocturnal beesFour bee families (, and ) contain some species that are. Most are tropical or subtropical, but some live in arid regions at higher latitudes. These bees have greatly enlarged, which are extremely sensitive to light and dark, though incapable of forming images. Some have refracting superposition compound eyes: these combine the output of many elements of their compound eyes to provide enough light for each retinal photoreceptor. Their ability to fly by night enables them to avoid many predators, and to exploit flowers that produce nectar only or also at night. Predators, parasites and pathogens.

The bee-eater, specialises in feeding on bees; here a male catches a nuptial gift for his mate.Vertebrate predators of bees include, and, which make short sallies to catch insects in flight. Swifts and swallows fly almost continually, catching insects as they go.

The attacks bees' nests and eats the larvae. The interacts with humans by guiding them to the nests of wild bees. The humans break open the nests and take the honey and the bird feeds on the larvae and the wax.

Among mammals, predators such as the dig up bumblebee nests and eat both the larvae and any stored food. The beewolf paralysing a bee with its stingSpecialist ambush predators of visitors to flowers include, which wait on flowering plants for pollinating insects;, and, some of which (the of the tropics) wait motionless, camouflaged as flowers. Are large wasps that habitually attack bees; the estimated that a single colony of the beewolf might kill several thousand honeybees in a day: all the prey he observed were honeybees. Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include. Honey bees are affected by parasites including.

However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites. Relationship with humans In mythology and folklore.

Gold plaques embossed with winged bee goddesses.,. 7th century B.C.' S describes three bee-maidens with the power of and thus speaking truth, and identifies the food of the gods as honey. Sources associated the bee maidens with and, until the 1980s, scholars followed Gottfried Hermann (1806) in incorrectly identifying the bee-maidens with the. Honey, according to a Greek myth, was discovered by a nymph called Melissa ('Bee'); and honey was offered to the Greek gods from. Bees were also associated with the and the prophetess was sometimes called a bee.The image of a community of honey bees has been used from ancient to modern times, in and; in and; in and;, and by political and social theorists such as and as a model for human. In English folklore, bees would be told of important events in the household, in a custom known as '.

In art and literature. 's illustration of Babbity Bumble in, 1910Some of the oldest examples of bees in art are in which have been dated to 15,000 BC.' S poem (1888) contains the couplet 'Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / And live alone in the bee loud glade.' At the time he was living in in the West of London.

's illustrated book (1910) features Babbity Bumble and her brood (pictured). ' book (1984) uses bees and beekeeping as part of its story and puzzle.

's (2004), and the starring, tells the story of a girl who escapes her abusive home and finds her way to live with a family of beekeepers, the Boatwrights.The humorous 2007 animated film used 's first script and was his first work for children; he starred as a bee named Barry B. Benson, alongside. Critics found its premise awkward and its delivery tame. 's (2014) describes his efforts to save bumblebees in Britain, as well as much about their biology.

The playwright Laline Paull's The Bees (2015) tells the tale of a hive bee named Flora 717 from hatching onwards. A commercial beekeeper at workHumans have kept honey bee colonies, commonly in, for millennia. Collect, and from hives; bees are also kept to crops and to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers.Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000 years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian art around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used; jars of honey were found in the tombs of such as. From the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested without destroying the colony. Among Classical Era authors, beekeeping with the use of smoke is described in Aristotle's Book 9.

The account mentions that bees die after stinging; that workers remove corpses from the hive, and guard it; castes including workers and non-working, but 'kings' rather than queens; predators including toads and bee-eaters; and the, with the 'irresistible suggestion' of άpοσειονται ('aroseiontai', it waggles) and παρακολουθούσιν ('parakolouthousin', they watch).Beekeeping is described in detail by in his; it is also mentioned in his, and in Pliny's. As commercial pollinators.

Bee covered in pollenBees play an important role in, and are the major type of in many that contain flowering plants. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on by insects, birds and bats, most of which is accomplished by bees, whether wild or domesticated. Over the last half century, there has been a general decline in the species richness of wild bees and other pollinators, probably attributable to stress from increased parasites and disease, the use of pesticides, and a general decrease in the number of wild flowers. Climate change probably exacerbates the problem.has overtaken the role of honey production for in many countries. After the introduction of, honey bees declined dramatically in the US, though their numbers have since recovered. The number of colonies kept by beekeepers declined slightly, through, systematic pesticide use, and mites, and the closure of beekeeping businesses. In 2006 and 2007 the rate of attrition increased, and was described as.

In 2010 invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus were shown to be in every killed colony, and deadly in combination. Winter losses increased to about 1/3. Varroa mites were thought to be responsible for about half the losses.Apart from colony collapse disorder, losses outside the US have been attributed to causes including pesticide seed dressings, using such as,.

From 2013 the restricted some pesticides to stop bee populations from declining further. In 2014 the report warned that bees faced increased risk of extinction because of. In 2018 the European Union decided to ban field use of all three major neonicotinoids; they remain permitted in veterinary, greenhouse, and vehicle transport usage.Farmers have focused on alternative solutions to mitigate these problems. By raising native plants, they provide food for native bee pollinators like and, leading to less reliance on honey bee populations.As food producersHoney is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey. Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in in Spain dated to 15,000 BC.Honey bees are used commercially to produce. They also produce some substances used as dietary supplements with possible health benefits, pollen, and, though all of these can also cause.As food (bee brood).

Bee larvae as food in the dishBees are partly considered. Indigenous people in many countries, including the larvae and pupae of bees, mostly stingless species. They also gather larvae, pupae and surrounding cells, known as, for consumption. In the dish from Central and East, bee larvae are eaten as a companion to, after being mixed with shredded, wrapped in leaves, and steamed.Bee brood (pupae and larvae) although low in, has been found to be high in and, and a useful source of, and trace minerals,. In addition, while bee brood was high in fat, it contained no fat soluble vitamins (such as A, D, and E) but it was a good source of most of the water-soluble including as well as vitamin C. The fat was composed mostly of and with 2.0% being.

As alternative medicineis a branch of that uses honey bee products, including, pollen, and (Bee ). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported. StingsThe painful are mostly associated with the poison gland and the which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In, the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-, and 22-docosanolide.

However, the secretions of these glands could also be used for nest construction. See also.Notes. nests in a petrified forest in Arizona, implying that bees evolved much earlier, are now thought to be beetle borings. In D'Arcy Thompson's translation: 'At early dawn they make no noise, until some one particular bee makes a buzzing noise two or three times and thereby awakes the rest; hereupon they all fly in a body to work. By and by they return and at first are noisy. Until at last some one bee flies round about, making a buzzing noise, and apparently calling on the others to go to sleep'.References.