Honey Bee

Description:

Worker honey bee gathering pollen from a lavender flower. Medium–sized insects, workers about 12 mm long, queens bigger.

Notes:

Apis mellifera, the most commonly domesticated species, was the third insect to have its genome mapped. It seems to have originated in eastern tropical Africa and spread from there to Northern Europe and eastwards into Asia to the Tien Shan range. It is variously called the European, Western or Common honey bee in different parts of the world.