The Land of Bees Schoolroom... A Bit of Latin

Today, the Land of Bees will be taking us back to school.

This will be happening pretty regularly so stop moaning and settle down.

While LandofSpike understands that it's not totally necessary to know which Suborder or Phylum bees belong to when you're tucking into some bread & honey, knowing a bit about which branch of the Tree of Life our bees have built their nests on is no bad thing.

So sit up straight and pay attention at the back of the class, it's time for a bit of Latin.

Our subject is the European Honeybee, Apis mellifera.

Apis is Latin for Bee.

Mellifera can be split into melli meaning honey and ferre meaning to carry.

So Apis mellifera is the Honey-Carrying Bee. 

Easy peasy.

Every organism has its place in the Hierarchy of Biological Classification, bees being no exception.

Our handy chart will guide us through the Classification of the European Honeybee with, hopefully, a minimum of glaring errors.

Those creatures at the bottom of the Classification are just a few subspecies of Apis mellifera, but they're the important ones for beekeepers.

In our next visit to the Land of Bees Schoolroom, LandofSpike will be casting his gaze over these fellers and seeing why beekeepers need to know all about them.