# Honey bee (*Apis mellifera*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/honey-bee  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a species in the family Apidae, order Hymenoptera. It has been recorded in 213 countries, most often in Poland, United States and United Kingdom. Its IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | Not recorded |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Main food | nectar, pollen |
| Habitat | Not recorded |
| Young per litter or clutch | Not recorded |
| Conservation status | Data Deficient (IUCN) |
| Recorded in | 213 countries |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Arthropoda
- class: Insecta
- order: Hymenoptera
- family: Apidae
- genus: Apis
- species: *Apis mellifera* Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms: *Apis adansonii*, *Apis aenigmaticus*, *Apis australis*, *Apis caffra*, *Apis cerifera*, *Apis daurica*, *Apis fasciata*, *Apis gregaria*, *Apis intermissa*

## Where it has been recorded

Countries with openly licensed sighting records on GBIF (records in brackets). Recorded sightings, not a definitive range.

Poland (135268), United States (85761), United Kingdom (54091), France (44650), Germany (36066), Belgium (22296), Brazil (19468), Australia (12954), Canada (12260), Sweden (11307), Finland (9869), South Africa (9465), Mexico (5745), South Korea (4798), Ireland (4433), Costa Rica (4046), Norway (3932), Denmark (3145), Burkina Faso (2105), Colombia (1947), New Zealand (1688), Russia (1635), Congo - Kinshasa (1633), Austria (1456), Spain (1454), Argentina (1406), Netherlands (1402), Italy (1109), Portugal (945), Peru (869), Estonia (837), Japan (775), Switzerland (749), Ukraine (617), Luxembourg (606), Isle of Man (571), Tanzania (553), Nigeria (528), Greece (481), Czechia (464), Kenya (451), Türkiye (398), Serbia (386), Ethiopia (356), Namibia (339), Madagascar (335), Taiwan (334), Saudi Arabia (319), China (304), Chile (292), Cameroon (240), U.S. Virgin Islands (236), Ecuador (224), Hungary (220), Thailand (220), Puerto Rico (188), Bolivia (181), Croatia (161), Iran (155), Panama (137), and 153 more

## Common questions

### Where does the honey bee live?

The honey bee has openly licensed sighting records from 213 countries on GBIF. The most records come from Poland, United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. These are recorded sightings, not a definitive range.

### Is the honey bee endangered?

The honey bee is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, meaning it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.

### What does the honey bee eat?

Its recorded main food is nectar and pollen.

### What kind of animal is the honey bee?

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) belongs to the family Apidae in the order Hymenoptera.

## Sources

- [GBIF Backbone Taxonomy](https://www.gbif.org/dataset/d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c), CC BY 4.0, live API 2026-11-11. GBIF Secretariat. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org.
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/), CC0 1.0, live API 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata, the free knowledge base.
- [GBIF occurrence aggregates (CC0 and CC BY records only)](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search), CC BY 4.0, live API 2026-11-11. GBIF.org occurrence search, country facet counts restricted to CC0 1.0 and CC BY 4.0 records.
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/), Per file, live API 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Licence and creator recorded per file.
- [English Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/), CC BY-SA 4.0, live API 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Cite as: Honey bee (Apis mellifera). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/honey-bee