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“apis mellifera“
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*aka* –>
“western honey bee”
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*the most common of the ~40 species of ‘honey bee’ worldwide*
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(the genus name apis is latin for “bee”, and mellifera means “honey-bearing”, referring to the species’ tendency to produce a large quantity of honey for ‘storage’ over the ‘winter’)
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(like all ‘honey bees’, the ‘western honey bee’ is ‘eusocial’, creating ‘colonies’ with a ‘single fertile female’ (or “queen”), many ‘sterile 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 ‘odors’ and the ‘dance language’ (!))
(the ‘western honey bee’ was one of the first ‘domesticated insects’, and is the ‘primary species’ maintained by ‘beekeepers’ to this day for both its ‘honey’ and ‘pollination’ services)
(with ‘human assistance’, the ‘western honey bee’ now occupies every ‘continent’ (except ‘antarctica’))
(due to its wide ‘cultivation’, this ‘species’ is the single most important ‘pollinator’ for ‘agriculture’ globally)
(a number of ‘pests’ and ‘diseases’ threaten the ‘honey bee’, especially ‘colony collapse disorder’)
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(‘western honey bees’ are an important ‘model organism’ in ‘scientific studies’, particularly in the fields of…)
*social evolution*
*learning*
*memory*
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(they are also used in ‘studies’ of ‘pesticide toxicity’, to assess ‘non-target impacts’ of ‘commercial pesticides’)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥