Why Honey Bee is Two Words
Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”
—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass
State Insects
The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.
Where Are Your Hives?
Beekeepers are everywhere. Each time someone visits Honey Bee Suite, his or her location will appear on the map.
Comments
Beautiful!
Thank you!
I have found quite a few yellow face bumblebees this year. I live south of Olympia Wa. near Centralia, Wa. I have found them mostly around the blackberry bushes. How common are they? I have not noticed them in previous years, but they’re very obvious this year with the numbers of them.
Linda,
For some reason, their numbers have exploded this year. They are everywhere I look.