Many believe all bees make honey, a misconception often linked to the common honey bee. However, the world of bees is incredibly diverse, with over 20,000 known species globally. Only a small fraction of these species produce and store honey. This reflects the wide array of lifestyles and behaviors found across the bee family.
The Bees That Produce Honey
The bees primarily recognized for producing honey belong to the genus Apis, commonly known as honey bees. This genus includes species like the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the Eastern honey bee (Apis cerana). These highly social insects produce honey as a concentrated food source to sustain their large colonies, especially during periods of nectar scarcity or colder months. Their ability to store significant quantities of honey is directly linked to their eusocial lifestyle and the need to support thousands of individuals within a single hive.
Honey production begins with worker bees collecting nectar, a sugary liquid, from flowering plants. Bees ingest this nectar, mixing it with enzymes, particularly invertase, from their honey sac or crop. This enzymatic action breaks down complex sugars into simpler ones like glucose and fructose. Back at the hive, bees regurgitate the partially digested nectar and pass it among other bees, further reducing its water content and continuing the enzymatic conversion.
Finally, bees deposit the thickened liquid into hexagonal wax cells within the honeycomb. They vigorously fan their wings to evaporate excess water, lowering the moisture content to approximately 17-18%. This low water content, combined with high sugar concentration and acidic pH, inhibits microbial growth. This allows honey to be stored almost indefinitely as a stable food reserve for the colony, enabling them to thrive and survive challenging environmental conditions.
The Majority of Bee Species and Their Lifestyles
Honey bees represent a small minority of the global bee population. The vast majority of the over 20,000 bee species exhibit different life histories that do not involve honey production. Most bee species are solitary, meaning a single female constructs and provisions her nest without the aid of a colony. These solitary bees, including mason, leafcutter, and carpenter bees, collect nectar for immediate consumption and pollen to provision individual brood cells for their offspring. They do not store large quantities of food for a collective.
Solitary bees display diverse nesting habits, often utilizing pre-existing cavities or excavating their own. Mason bees, for instance, typically nest in hollow stems or pre-drilled holes, sealing individual cells with mud. Leafcutter bees line their nests with precisely cut pieces of leaves, while carpenter bees bore tunnels into wood. These bees provision each egg cell with a mixture of pollen and nectar, which serves as the sole food source for the developing larva.
While some bee species are social, such as most bumblebees, they generally do not produce or store honey in the same manner or quantity as honey bees. Bumblebee colonies are typically much smaller, housing a few dozen to a few hundred individuals, and are often annual. This means the colony dies off in the autumn, with only a new queen surviving to start a new colony the following spring. Bumblebees store small amounts of nectar and pollen in wax pots within their nests, sufficient for immediate needs or short periods of inclement weather, but not for long-term survival over winter. Their different social structures and life cycles mean they do not need the large honey reserves characteristic of honey bee colonies.