Listen to the western honey bee
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the western honey bee
The western honey bee is a insect in the family Apidae (order Hymenoptera). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “Data Deficient”.
What does the western honey bee sound like?
Insects make sound mechanically: crickets and grasshoppers rub a scraper against a file (stridulation), cicadas buckle ribbed membranes called tymbals, and bees and mosquitoes hum with their wingbeats.
From Wikipedia
The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for 'bee', and mellifera is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', referring to the species' production of honey.
Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the waggle dance.
More from the family Apidae
Frequently asked questions
What does a western honey bee sound like?
You can hear 3 recordings of the western honey bee on this page. Insects make sound mechanically: crickets and grasshoppers rub a scraper against a file (stridulation), cicadas buckle ribbed membranes called tymbals, and bees and mosquitoes hum with their wingbeats.
Is the western honey bee endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the western honey bee as “Data Deficient”.
What family does the western honey bee belong to?
The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) belongs to the family Apidae in the order Hymenoptera.
Sources & credits
- BioAcoustica 413-2 Apis mellifera 524 – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- BioAcoustica 898 4 Apis mellifera (Honey Bee) 78 – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 263673 ylearkisto… by YleArkisto – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q30034 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Western honey bee – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Didier Descouens – CC BY-SA 4.0