Honey bee workers maintain the hive temperature in the critical brood area where new bees are hatched and raised. Workers must maintain the hive's brood chamber within a … See more

Honey production
Worker bees collect nectar from flowers using their tubular mouth parts, and store it in their honey stomach. Enzymes proceed to break down the nectar into simple sugars. Back at the hive, the nectar is distributed to … See more

The workers perform different behavioral tasks in the colony that cause them to be exposed to different local environments. The worker gut … See more

The worker bee's stinger is a complex organ that allows a bee to defend itself and the hive from most mammals. Bee stings against mammals and birds typically leave the stinger … See more

Through the lifecycle of a worker bee, she will take on many different roles within the hive, depending on how old she is and how long she has been working in the hive. The exact number of days she spends at each task depends on the requirements of the … See more

In most common bee species, worker bees are infertile due to enforced altruistic kin selection, and thus never reproduce. Workers are nevertheless considered female for anatomical and genetic reasons. Genetically, a worker bee does not differ from a … See more

There are many types of eusocial bees, including bumble bees, stingless bees, some orchid bees, and many species of sweat bees, native to all continents except for Antarctica, that have workers. Workers in these other bee lineages do not show significant … See more