HOW MUCH TYPE OF BEINGS IN THIS EARTH?
Based on the research, there are about 30,000 species of bees that exist on this earth. 16 thousand of which have been researched and investigated. Most of the diversity of bee species is in a dry, semi-arid environment that warms. Almost on the surface of the earth can be found bees, except in the Arctic, the south pole, the mountains are very high, as well as in the remote islands located in the middle of the ocean.
Bees also have the shape, size, color, and way of life that varies depending on the species. There are bees that live alone (solitary), there are also live bees in groups in colonies (social bees). The smallest bee size is about 2mm and the largest is about 4 cm. Bee color also vary. There are bees that are black, gray, yellow, blue, red to green.
There are 11 families of bees. Scientists distinguish them based on small differences that lie on the wing layer and fine structure on the mouth and other microscopic characteristics. Nevertheless, the bees in each family have other interesting features, including their size, nesting behavior and food gathering, and an easy-to-see body look like body hair, tongue length, and the shape of a pollen carrier structure.
Cellophane bees are relatively non-hairy bees with short, branched tongues. Compared to other bees they are more like moths; Therefore they are seen as the most primitive bees. They wallowed the halls of the nest and their larval cells (rooms for the young bee) with a kind of spittle hardened into cellophane-shaped membranes. They carry pollen on the feathers of their feet or internally in a stomach-like basket. Miners' bees (mining bees) are a large group of bees that make ground nests made of branching spaces, each branching in one or more nests. They are communal as well as solitary, living apart but their nests are close together. They carry pollen on the feathers of their feet and body.
Sweat bees are generally small and dark-colored bees with small feathers. They are also usually lodged in the soil and can live in a society in which the brothers' bees help each other out. Pollen is under the hairy area near their toes and on the hairs of their hair. The Leafcutter bees and Mason bees belong to long-tongued bees who have special feathers to carry pollen under their belly. They often build their nests in pre-existing holes and can live in groups from their own nests. Some of these species are useful in agriculture for plant pollination.
Digger Bees are bees with fast flying feathers that can be lodged solely on the ground solitary or in dense clusters of nests or can dig nests in wood. They have a long tongue and are the bees which are good polinators. They carry pollen on the hairy area near the middle of the back foot. Carpenter bees also belong to the digger family of bees.