The Difference in Honey and Bumble Bees

While honeybees and bumblebees all belong to the Apidae family and share many similar qualities, including the ability to pollinate plants, they differ primarily in appearance and lifestyle. Learning the differences between the flying insects will ensure that you know what to expect the next time one buzzes near you.

  1. Appearance

    • Honeybees belong to the genus Apis. They are slender, fuzzy insects with black and golden coloring. Bumblebees are fuzzier and thicker with black and yellow coloring. Bumblebees belong to the genus Bombus. Bumblebees and honeybees have six legs, five eyes and four wings.

    Nests

    • Honeybees live in large colonies. They can stay in a nest for years, feeding off honey and huddling together for warmth in the winter. Bumblebees live in smaller groups, so the size of an average bumblebee nest is smaller than a honeybee nest. Bumblebees usually live in a colony for a single, warm season. During the colder months, they hibernate individually underground.

    Habitat

    • Bumblebees are native to the Western Hemisphere. Humans have discovered more than 250 species. Honeybees are African and European. Settlers in the 17th century introduced honeybees to the Americas. Humans have discovered about seven species of honeybees.

    Queens

    • Unlike bumblebees, honeybees groom one another and exchange food mouth-to-mouth. While in contact with one another, honeybees spread the queen's pheromone, which allows the queen to control the colony. In bumblebee colonies, the queen may hold dominance through aggressive behavior.

    Stingers

    • Honeybees have barbed stingers. If they sting, they cannot remove the barb without losing their abdomen, resulting in death. Bumblebees don't have this problem. Their smooth stingers allow them to sting an enemy more than once. In both honeybees and bumblebees, only the females have stingers, and they are aggressive if a colony is threatened.