第 0936 號，共 1 402 號

Western honey bee

Apis mellifera

名字的由來： The genus name Apis is Latin for 'bee', and mellifera means 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', because the species makes honey.1

只是會痛會痛，但不會對你造成嚴重傷害。

蜜蜂、胡蜂和虎頭蜂

螫吃：植物

對人的危險: 疼痛可能會非常痛，但幾乎從來不會很嚴重。

The western honey bee is the most common of the honey bee species in the world. It lives in large family groups called colonies, which can hold tens of thousands of bees. Humans have helped it spread to every continent except Antarctica, and it is kept by beekeepers for its honey and for pollinating crops.1

分布在

Every continent except Antarctica. It first lived in Africa or Asia, and humans have carried it to many other regions.1

歐洲, 非洲, 亞洲

首頁

Colonies live in hives, which beekeepers manage, and in natural nests such as hollow tree trunks. When a swarm leaves a colony, it travels some distance to find a new site, such as a hollow tree trunk.1

長度

1,3 cm (0,5 in)3

一般成體大小

最高速度

大約 25 km/h（16 mph）

飛行: 工蜂的一般飛行速度

牠吃什麼？

Worker bees gather nectar and pollen from flowers. They process nectar into honey, which is stored in the hive as food for the cold season.1

Western honey bee 的照片 — Western honey bee。照片：Andreas Trepte。 CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons.

怎麼認出牠

Queens are larger than workers and have a rounder, longer abdomen.1
Workers are smaller, infertile females that do most of the colony's work.1
Workers have a barbed stinger, which is used to defend the hive.1
Colonies can hold tens of thousands of bees, and a healthy midsummer hive may have 40,000 to 80,000 bees.1

毒液力量

螫

毒液從螫針出來。

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 疼痛可能會非常痛，但幾乎從來不會很嚴重。

牠害怕時會做什麼？

Queens and workers defend the hive with their stingers.1

如果牠螫人

把蜜蜂的螫針刮掉，然後冷敷患處。
如果傷者呼吸困難、臉部或喉嚨腫脹，或覺得快要昏倒，這就是過敏急症：打緊急電話，如果傷者有腎上腺素自動注射筆，就使用它。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠螫了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

小到可以坐在你的指甲上可以在 15 秒內飛過一整座足球場

Western honey bee 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻家蠅 大約 7 km/h (4,4 mph)

Western honey bee 大約 25 km/h (16 mph)

一個正在衝刺的人 大約 37 km/h (23 mph)

值得知道

小知識

A worker bee's stinger is barbed, unlike the stingers of bees of any other genus and of the queens of its species.1

The stinger and its venom sac can keep delivering venom after they are pulled free of the body.1

Young queens fight each other until only one remains, and the survivor becomes the new queen.1

A worker bee works in the hive for its first 20 days and then becomes a forager for the rest of its life.1

Honey is made by worker bees evaporating nectar until its moisture content is low enough to stop mould.1

Female bees make up 90% or more of the bees in a colony at any given time.1

破解迷思

迷思： A honey bee always dies soon after it stings.

真相： A bee does not always die soon after stinging. A bee usually dies after stinging a human or other mammal, because its barbed stinger often lodges in the skin and pulls free.1

給毒液專家

學名: Apis mellifera
類群: 蜜蜂、胡蜂和虎頭蜂
家人: Apidae2
排序: Hymenoptera
各大洲: 歐洲, 非洲, 亞洲
寶寶: The queen lays a single egg into each cell of the honeycomb. The egg hatches into a legless, eyeless larva, which becomes a pupa and then an adult bee. Most of the colony's bees are female.1
牠在野外的狀況: Data Deficient (IUCN Red List, as of 2025)1
對人的危險: 2 / 5: 疼痛3