EUROPEAN HONEY BEE or WESTERN HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera) on FLOWERING CHERRY TREE (Prunus x yedoensis) blossoms, Turvey Nature Reserve, Donabate, Fingal, Co. Dublin, Ireland

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 The European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) or Western Honey Bee is of the family Apidae which is in the genus Apis. Honey bees live in a social colony containing a single egg laying queen, up to 60,000 sterile female worker bees and during the summer months also includes over 500 male bees known as drones.

Patrick J. O'Keeffe / Raw Birds

WESTERN HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera) on PURPLE MILK THISTLE (Galactites tomentosa) Pelekaniotikos River, Koundoura, Crete, Greece

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The Western Honey Bee or European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the seven species of honey bee, though historically, from six to eleven species have been recognized. 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. 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 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.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_honey_bee