Essay Preview: Bees
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Bees are flying and annoying (in my opinion) insects. They are cousins of wasps and ants, and there are almost 20,000 species, but there are most likely many more unaccounted for. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Bees greatly vary in size, the smallest being 2.1mm long and the largest at 39mm. The most common bee is probably the Halictidae (a.k.a.sweat bee), but they are often mistaken for wasps or flies.
Although the Halictidae is the most common bee, the most well known bee is the Western Honey Bee, who produce honey and are the type of bees that Beekeepers keep.
All bees use nectar and pollen as an energy source and food, except for Trigona hypogea, or vulture bees, which, as the name suggests, feed on rotten meat.
Every bee has 2 sets of wings the back pair being the smaller of the two. In a few species one sex has short wings that make flight very difficult to impossible.
Bees are extremely important in agriculture, as it is estimated that 1/3 of the human food supply depends on pollination. They also play a vital role in providing food for wildlife, especially birds.
Both ant and bees all evoled from wasps, they are just highly speciallized. Although the switch from insect prey to pollen may have come from the consumption of insects that we partially covered in pollen when fed to wasp larvae.
Insects such as beetles were the first to pollinate flowers, so bees werent the only insect to do this. Even though they were not the first pollinaters, they are the most efficient of any beetles, flies, butterflies, pollen wasps, or any other pollinating insect.
Contrary to what many believe, bees do not make a buzzing noise from thies mouths, beacause the do not have vocal chords. It is a humming noise that comes from their wings when in flight. But when they arent flying they can make a buzzing noise.
Not all bees die after stinging you once. Actually