• Question: How many types of bees are there?

    Asked by anon-218853 to johnpaterson on 16 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: John Paterson

      John Paterson answered on 16 Jun 2019:

      In the UK there are around 250 species. The honey bee which we see a lot is only 1 species. Then there are about 40 species of bumblebees, the big hairy ones. Most of the other species are small bees that live on their own called ‘solitary’ bees. They generally make holes in bricks, soil or sand and live in those – most of these species can’t sting.

      In the world there are around 20,000 species, most of them living in tropical places. There are tiny ones called sweat bees that are often very shiny and colourful and only a few milimeters long. Then there are big ones like the carpenter bee or Wallace’s bee, which are several inches long.

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