People use the name “honeybee” to describe the bees that make the sweet yellow liquid. The scientific name of the Western, or European honeybee is Apis mellifera (L.). In English, it means “The bee that brings honey”. The average adult Western honeybee worker is about half an inch to 5/8″ long. The Eastern honeybee workers are slightly smaller than the Western honeybees.
An adult Western honeybee worker has a dark, almost black body. There are bands of yellow on the abdomen. The mid-section and part of the head also appear to be yellow.
The reason the head and mid-section look yellow is the hairs that the bee has on its body. Honeybee workers have pale hairs on their head. The hairs are very thick on their mid-section. The hairs are rather sparse on the abdomen.
The hairs on a honeybee's body are different from the hairs on many other insects. Honeybees have hairs that scientists call plumose. This means that each hair resembles a tiny feather. Each hair has many branches. It is possible to see the feathery hairs on a honeybee, but a strong (probably 20X) magnifying glass is needed.
Because the hairs are feathery, they appear thicker than other types of hairs. This gives the honeybee a “hairy” or “fuzzy” appearance. Other insects, like wasps, have slender, straight hairs. The hairs on a wasp are so slender that it seems to have no hair on its body.
The plumed hair on the honeybee serves a real purpose. As the honeybee visits flowers, it collects pollen on the hairs on its body. By moving from plant-to-plant, the honeybee spreads the pollen. Honeybees pollinate many plants, from orchids to tobacco. This pollination adds millions of dollars of value to the crops in the United States every year.