DEFINITION: any of a large super family (Apoidea) of broad-bodied, four-winged, hairy hymenopteran insects that gather pollen and nectar, have biting as well as sucking mouth parts, and often live in organized colonies; esp., the honeybee. People have known ever since ancient times that the insects called bees make delicious honey from the nectar [...]

Nesting and Life Cycle Social insects, those living in communities and having differentiated forms or castes, as queens, workers, drones. Bees vary greatly in nesting practices, depending upon the species. They may be classified as social bees, solitary bees, and parasitic bees (also called guest bees or cuckoo bees). Social bees are members of colonies [...]

Dance of the honeybees. A worker honeybee lets the other workers know about a new source of food it has discovered by rapidly vibrating its wings and performing a dance. When it returns to the nest, it first gives the others a sample of the nectar. From this, and from the scent on its body, [...]

Most people think of wasps only as bugs with bad tempers and sharp stings. Actually, wasps exhibit remarkably sophisticated behaviour and are often helpful, especially to farmers, because they help to check the population of other insects that may be harmful to crops. The many species that feed on nectar travel from flower to flower [...]

Orienting Behaviour An animal orients by adjusting its posture and position in space. It does so in relation to the source of different forms of energy in its environment. These forms include light, heat, and chemicals in the air or water, pressure, electric current, air or water currents, gravity, radiation, and magnetic fields. Tropism, involuntary [...]