Description:
In comparison to European honey bees, Asian honey bees are smaller and have less hair. Asian honey bees are larger than their European counterparts, measuring between 10 and 13 mm, and have more pronounced yellow striping on their abdomen. Their clean-looking wings have dark brown veins.
They form colonies of about 20,000 bees and construct hives with identical wax combs. They can sting when attacked and travel higher and more erratically than European honey bees. Asian honey bees frequently swarm and have the propensity to swarm again, making it impossible to manage them for honey production.
Appearance:
Asian honey bees are shorter than European honey bees (approximately 10 mm in length) (about 15 mm long). Compared to European honey bees, they have fewer hairs. Compared to European honey bees, they have an even, more pronounced banding on the abdomen.
Although their colour might vary significantly, they are typically brown with a brown abdomen and pale-yellow bands. There is a thick coat of hair on the head, thorax, and abdomen. Also hairy are the legs and the area around the eyes. The enormous colonies that are ruled by a solitary queen are home to these extremely social insects.
Life Cycle of Asian Honey Bees:
The queen produces eggs in combs cells that are nearly the size of a grain of rice at the start of the life cycle. The queen can produce up to 3000 eggs every day, both fertile and infertile. While fertilised eggs mature into either female workers or queens, unfertilized eggs grow into male drones. The bee larva forms after three days when the eggshell disintegrates.
The cycle of Life (Back to Top) Individuals in the holometabolous Asian honey bee go through four unique stages in life (egg, larva, pupa, and adult). Eggs: Each brood cell receives one egg from the queen. Eggs are oval-shaped, white, and tiny. When the moment is ripe, the adult bee gradually gnaws its way out of the sealed cell.
- In general, Asian honey bees tend to grow a little more swiftly.
- Drones mature after 23 days, drones after 19 days, and queens after 13 to 16 days.
Habits:
Asian honey bees favour enclosed spaces, such as hollow trees, to build their nests. Smaller nest cavities are preferred by Asian honey bee colonies, which are usually smaller than Honey bee colonies. While Asian honey bee colonies typically include between 20,000 and 60,000 bees, Asian honey bee colonies have about 34,000 bees.
Without assistance from any other bees, each female bee constructs and guards her home, lays her egg and collects pollen and nectar for her young. Before her young hatch, she frequently passes away or abandons the nest. In the soil or dead wood, solitary bees usually build their nests.
Published on: November 14, 2023
Last updated on: December 14, 2023