The main characteristic that distinguishes bees is the presence of branched hairs<\/strong>. Although wasps can also have hairs, they are simple. This difference is difficult to see with the naked eye and usually requires a microscope or a magnifying glass to observe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other characteristic features of bees, although shared with other hymenopterans, are the presence of stinger<\/strong> and the haplodiploidy<\/strong>. The sting of bees evolved from the ovipositor, an organ used by the females of many insects to lay eggs. Through evolution, this organ transformed into a sharp structure for defence, capable of injecting venom. However, some bees, known as stingless bees, have this organ so reduced that they cannot use it for defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, haplodiploidy is a sex determination system based on the number of copies of each chromosome. Female bees have two copies of each chromosome (like humans), while males have only one. This means that females hatch from fertilised eggs<\/strong>, with one copy of the chromosome from each parent, whereas males hatch from unfertilised eggs<\/strong>and only have the mother's genetic material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of their life cycle, bees are holometabolous,<\/strong>insects, i.e. they are born as larvae and undergo a complete metamorphosis to become adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although we tend to associate bees with the best known species, Apis mellifera,<\/em> most species do not produce honey<\/strong> and are solitary<\/strong>. In these species, each female builds her own nest in which she lays her eggs and stores food for her brood. There are also cuckoo bees<\/strong>, which do not collect food for their offspring. Instead, they invade the nests of other bees and lay their eggs inside. Their larvae then consume the food that the host female or females collect for the offspring of their own nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest diversity of bee species can be found in dry areas with high solar radiation<\/strong>. The regions with the highest species richness are southwestern United States, the Mediterranean Basin, Nepal, some areas of the Andes, the southern Amazon Basin and South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bees can live in many different environments as long as they have access to floral resources and nesting sites<\/strong>. They are found in a variety of natural, semi-natural and urban habitats, such as grasslands, woodland margins and clearings, roadsides, crops, gardens, scrubland and wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bees feed mainly on pollen and nectar<\/strong>during both their larval and adult stages. This is one of the most notable differences with wasps, which are primarily carnivorous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some species also collect floral oils<\/strong> to feed their larvae. In addition, within the Meliponini group of tropical bees (the so-called stingless bees), there are a few species known as \"vulture bees\", which can consume pollen and nectar, but prefer to feed on rotting meat<\/strong> of animals such as snakes and lizards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bees play a fundamental role in ecosystems as pollinators,<\/strong>They are considered to be the most efficient group of animals for this purpose. However, their ecological importance is not limited to pollination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most bees nest in the soil, which contributes to increasing soil porosity, improving aeration<\/strong>, infiltration<\/strong> of water and facilitating the root growth<\/strong> of plants. In addition, bees bring into their nests materials such as pollen, resins, leaf fragments and their own waste (faeces and corpses), which provide organic matter <\/strong>to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, scavenger bee species help in the decomposition of animal remains by facilitating nutrient recycling<\/strong> in ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Bee](\"https:\/\/bombinatura.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dsc00472recorte2-2-edited.jpg\")
![\"Ejemplar](\"https:\/\/bombinatura.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dsc01056-edited-1.jpg\")
Where do they live?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What do they eat?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Abeja](\"https:\/\/bombinatura.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dsc00959-edited-2.jpg\")
Ecological importance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n