Apidae

A Dictionary of Zoology | 1999 | 614 words | Copyright

Apidae (bumble-bees, honey-bees, orchid bees, stingless bees; order Hymenoptera, suborder Apocrita) Family of bees, in which the pollen-transporting apparatus is on the outer face of the hind tibia and comprises a corbiculum. The hind tibial spurs are absent, except in the primitively eusocial bumble-bees (genus Bombus). The stingless bees (genera Melipona and Trigona), and the four species of honey-bees (Apis cerana, A. dorsata, A. indica, and A. mellifera) have achieved the highest levels of insect sociality, apart from those found among the termites and ants, with a morphologically distinct worker caste.

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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Apidae." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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