ENVS 2210 Midterm Exam Questions
with All Correct and Detailed Answers
2026-2027 Update.
1) What is the latin name for the Western honey Bee, of Europe and Africa? What does it mean?
2) What did Linnaeus try to rename it to? Why did he fail?
3) Why is the term mellifera inaccurate? - Answer 1) Apis mellifera L., 1758 (scientific name in
italics or underlined); 'honey-carrying bee', Linnaeus named it, 1758 was the year Linnaeus
assigned this name
2) Apis mellifica, 'the honey-making bee' in 1761 (but rules of classification do not allow this-can
change the genus but not the species)
3) means 'honey-carrying' and bees don't carry honey (they collect nectar)
1) To which kingdom do honeybees belong? Why?
2) To which phylum do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this phylum.
3) Examples of other arthropoda?* - Answer 1) animalia (they are multicellular and motile)
2) arthropoda (have an exoskeleton, segmented body, paired segmented appendages, one pair
of segmented antennae, usually 1-2 pairs of wings)
3) lobsters, crabs, insects, ticks, and mites
1) To which class do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this class.
2) To which order do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this order.
3) To which family do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this family* - Answer 1) insecta:
three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), 3 pairs of legs (fore, mid, and hind), 1 pair of
segmented antennae, usually 1-2 pairs of wings (but there are flightless insects)
2) hymenoptera: (bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies), 2 pairs of membranous wings (the origin of
the order name) usually folded, female with ovipositor for laying eggs (modified into a 'sting' in
most bees, most ants, and some wasps)
3) apidae-social bees (7 families of bees are currently recognized): honeybees, bumblebees,
orchid bees, stingless bees, and some others, closest ancestors of bees are wasps, ancestral
wasps collected animal prey; bees are specialized to collect pollen as their source of protein and
lipids, most bees are hairy insects (branched hairs on body); hairs pick up pollen from flowers
1) To which genus do honeybees belong? Describe traits of this genus.
2) Describe a honeybee's eye
3) What do the hairs on a bee's eye do?* - Answer 1) Apis: 9-12 species recognized today, all
species live in Asia except for Apis mellifera, honeybee combs have hexagonal cells and are
made completely from beeswax secreted by worker bees, honeybees are the only bees with
hairy eyes
,2) each individual compound eye is made up of about 6900 hexagonal facets, each containing
its own lens to receive light, a pigmented cone to concentrate and focus it, and sensory retinal
cells for light perception
3) sense flight speed and/or direction-if the eyes are shaved, foragers have difficulty orienting as
they fly near their nest
1) To which species do honeybees belong?
2) What are the three races/subspecies of apis mellifera? Elaborate on race/subspecies of A.m.*
- Answer 1) mellifera
2) ligustica, scutellata, and capensis
-these three races all belong to the same species (they can interbreed and produce viable
offspring)
-a race has unique identifying traits (morphological and behavioural) that we recognize by a
third (subspecies) name
1) What do hairs on the honeybee's eyes do?
2) Do all bees make their nests entirely out of beeswax?
3) How is beeswax formed?
4) Why does wax turn yellow?* - Answer 1) sense wind speed to help them orient in the
environment
2) No, just honeybees; other bees mix in dung and plant material
3) when a bee is full of nectar or honey, it triggers them to change some of that sugar into wax
-wax glands on underside of abdomen (pure white, almost transparent)
4) because bees track fine material around on the combs causing a chemical change in colour
from white/transparent to yellow
Wasps vs bees?* - Answer -wasps have non-hairy bodies, folded wings, narrow 'wasp-waist'
-bees are hairy, have open wings
1) What is a caste?
2) What are the morphological castes? - Answer 1) a functionally distinct group within a
society
-in honeybees, they are both morphological and behavioural castes
2) workers (2000-80,000), queens (usually 1, rarely 2), and drones (0-2000+)
1) Describe the queen
2) Describe workers
3) Describe drones* - Answer 1) -female (sex)
,-primary egg layer
-maintains colony cohesion with pheromones (chemicals emitted outside the body that enable
communication between individuals of the same species)
2) -female (sex)
-performs all 'work' in the colony: brood care, nest defence, foraging, wax secretion, comb-
building, feeding the queen and drones, making nectar into honey, etc
3) -male (sex)
-one function: to mate with a queen (in flight)
-drones die during the act of mating
-get fed by workers
-produced seasonally
1) Since the honeybee nest is dark inside, how do they orient themselves?
2) How do the bees know which of them is the queen?* - Answer 1) by touch, vibration, smell,
etc
2) she produces a 'queen substance' that she's there and functioning properly-doesn't take too
long for the bees to realize she is gone as pheromones disappear gradually every 25min or so
What are cells the 3 castes are reared in?* - Answer -worker cells: horizontal; hexagonal; 5.3-
5.5mm wide (in European races)
-drone cells: horizontal; hexagonal; 6.2-6.8mm wide (much larger than worker cells)
-queen cell: downward-facing; round; start as a rounded cup that becomes elongated to
resemble a peanut
What happens after larvae is reared?* - Answer -they are sealed in with wax, and the larvae
spins a cocoon and pupates (cap brood)
-chew off cap and emerge as an adult
1) Honeybees live in a colony. What makes up a colony?
2) What is meant by brood?
3) What is pollen? - Answer 1) -nest: wax combs, food (pollen, nectar, honey), and brood
-bees: queen, workers, drones
2) eggs, larvae, and pupae (sealed or capped brood)
3) male germ cells of plants; provides proteins and lipids and vitamins and minerals
1) What is nectar?
2) What is honey?
, 3) What is the comb? - Answer 1) sugary solution derived from plants (usually from flowers)
2) concentrated and chemically altered nectar; mostly sugars but some enzymes and small
amounts of pollen, minerals, etc
3) the structure of interconnecting hexagonal cells constructed entirely of beeswax
What is a hive? Examples? - Answer -a structure made by humans for bees to inhabit
-hives can be made of wooden boards, holly logs, clay pots, grass, mud, etc
-people often incorrectly refer to 'colonies' as 'hives'
Example: 'Mike Parker manages 6000 hives.' (should say occupied hives)
Example: 'There's a bee hive in the tupelo tree down yonder." (should be nest, not hive)
1) Honey bees are highly ___________
2) A healthy bee colony never has less than _________worker bees
3) Colonies are potentially __________* - Answer 1) social
2) 4000
3) eternal
1) What are the lifespans of the different types of bees?
2) Why are cells tipped slightly upward?
3) Do queens develop faster or slower than workers?
4) Do drones develop faster or slower than workers? - Answer 1) queen: 1-6 years
-worker: <50 days in summer, <270 in winter
-drone: absent in winter
2) to prevent nectar from falling out
3) faster
4) slower
1) How long is the larval stage?
2) How long do eggs take to hatch?
3) In every bee nest there are at least how many combs? - Answer 1) 5 days
2) 3 days
3) 3
1) Who perceives the stimuli and makes decisions?
2) Why is a cell six-sided?* - Answer 1) worker bees- the queen reacts to what they have done
with All Correct and Detailed Answers
2026-2027 Update.
1) What is the latin name for the Western honey Bee, of Europe and Africa? What does it mean?
2) What did Linnaeus try to rename it to? Why did he fail?
3) Why is the term mellifera inaccurate? - Answer 1) Apis mellifera L., 1758 (scientific name in
italics or underlined); 'honey-carrying bee', Linnaeus named it, 1758 was the year Linnaeus
assigned this name
2) Apis mellifica, 'the honey-making bee' in 1761 (but rules of classification do not allow this-can
change the genus but not the species)
3) means 'honey-carrying' and bees don't carry honey (they collect nectar)
1) To which kingdom do honeybees belong? Why?
2) To which phylum do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this phylum.
3) Examples of other arthropoda?* - Answer 1) animalia (they are multicellular and motile)
2) arthropoda (have an exoskeleton, segmented body, paired segmented appendages, one pair
of segmented antennae, usually 1-2 pairs of wings)
3) lobsters, crabs, insects, ticks, and mites
1) To which class do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this class.
2) To which order do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this order.
3) To which family do honeybees belong? Explain traits of this family* - Answer 1) insecta:
three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), 3 pairs of legs (fore, mid, and hind), 1 pair of
segmented antennae, usually 1-2 pairs of wings (but there are flightless insects)
2) hymenoptera: (bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies), 2 pairs of membranous wings (the origin of
the order name) usually folded, female with ovipositor for laying eggs (modified into a 'sting' in
most bees, most ants, and some wasps)
3) apidae-social bees (7 families of bees are currently recognized): honeybees, bumblebees,
orchid bees, stingless bees, and some others, closest ancestors of bees are wasps, ancestral
wasps collected animal prey; bees are specialized to collect pollen as their source of protein and
lipids, most bees are hairy insects (branched hairs on body); hairs pick up pollen from flowers
1) To which genus do honeybees belong? Describe traits of this genus.
2) Describe a honeybee's eye
3) What do the hairs on a bee's eye do?* - Answer 1) Apis: 9-12 species recognized today, all
species live in Asia except for Apis mellifera, honeybee combs have hexagonal cells and are
made completely from beeswax secreted by worker bees, honeybees are the only bees with
hairy eyes
,2) each individual compound eye is made up of about 6900 hexagonal facets, each containing
its own lens to receive light, a pigmented cone to concentrate and focus it, and sensory retinal
cells for light perception
3) sense flight speed and/or direction-if the eyes are shaved, foragers have difficulty orienting as
they fly near their nest
1) To which species do honeybees belong?
2) What are the three races/subspecies of apis mellifera? Elaborate on race/subspecies of A.m.*
- Answer 1) mellifera
2) ligustica, scutellata, and capensis
-these three races all belong to the same species (they can interbreed and produce viable
offspring)
-a race has unique identifying traits (morphological and behavioural) that we recognize by a
third (subspecies) name
1) What do hairs on the honeybee's eyes do?
2) Do all bees make their nests entirely out of beeswax?
3) How is beeswax formed?
4) Why does wax turn yellow?* - Answer 1) sense wind speed to help them orient in the
environment
2) No, just honeybees; other bees mix in dung and plant material
3) when a bee is full of nectar or honey, it triggers them to change some of that sugar into wax
-wax glands on underside of abdomen (pure white, almost transparent)
4) because bees track fine material around on the combs causing a chemical change in colour
from white/transparent to yellow
Wasps vs bees?* - Answer -wasps have non-hairy bodies, folded wings, narrow 'wasp-waist'
-bees are hairy, have open wings
1) What is a caste?
2) What are the morphological castes? - Answer 1) a functionally distinct group within a
society
-in honeybees, they are both morphological and behavioural castes
2) workers (2000-80,000), queens (usually 1, rarely 2), and drones (0-2000+)
1) Describe the queen
2) Describe workers
3) Describe drones* - Answer 1) -female (sex)
,-primary egg layer
-maintains colony cohesion with pheromones (chemicals emitted outside the body that enable
communication between individuals of the same species)
2) -female (sex)
-performs all 'work' in the colony: brood care, nest defence, foraging, wax secretion, comb-
building, feeding the queen and drones, making nectar into honey, etc
3) -male (sex)
-one function: to mate with a queen (in flight)
-drones die during the act of mating
-get fed by workers
-produced seasonally
1) Since the honeybee nest is dark inside, how do they orient themselves?
2) How do the bees know which of them is the queen?* - Answer 1) by touch, vibration, smell,
etc
2) she produces a 'queen substance' that she's there and functioning properly-doesn't take too
long for the bees to realize she is gone as pheromones disappear gradually every 25min or so
What are cells the 3 castes are reared in?* - Answer -worker cells: horizontal; hexagonal; 5.3-
5.5mm wide (in European races)
-drone cells: horizontal; hexagonal; 6.2-6.8mm wide (much larger than worker cells)
-queen cell: downward-facing; round; start as a rounded cup that becomes elongated to
resemble a peanut
What happens after larvae is reared?* - Answer -they are sealed in with wax, and the larvae
spins a cocoon and pupates (cap brood)
-chew off cap and emerge as an adult
1) Honeybees live in a colony. What makes up a colony?
2) What is meant by brood?
3) What is pollen? - Answer 1) -nest: wax combs, food (pollen, nectar, honey), and brood
-bees: queen, workers, drones
2) eggs, larvae, and pupae (sealed or capped brood)
3) male germ cells of plants; provides proteins and lipids and vitamins and minerals
1) What is nectar?
2) What is honey?
, 3) What is the comb? - Answer 1) sugary solution derived from plants (usually from flowers)
2) concentrated and chemically altered nectar; mostly sugars but some enzymes and small
amounts of pollen, minerals, etc
3) the structure of interconnecting hexagonal cells constructed entirely of beeswax
What is a hive? Examples? - Answer -a structure made by humans for bees to inhabit
-hives can be made of wooden boards, holly logs, clay pots, grass, mud, etc
-people often incorrectly refer to 'colonies' as 'hives'
Example: 'Mike Parker manages 6000 hives.' (should say occupied hives)
Example: 'There's a bee hive in the tupelo tree down yonder." (should be nest, not hive)
1) Honey bees are highly ___________
2) A healthy bee colony never has less than _________worker bees
3) Colonies are potentially __________* - Answer 1) social
2) 4000
3) eternal
1) What are the lifespans of the different types of bees?
2) Why are cells tipped slightly upward?
3) Do queens develop faster or slower than workers?
4) Do drones develop faster or slower than workers? - Answer 1) queen: 1-6 years
-worker: <50 days in summer, <270 in winter
-drone: absent in winter
2) to prevent nectar from falling out
3) faster
4) slower
1) How long is the larval stage?
2) How long do eggs take to hatch?
3) In every bee nest there are at least how many combs? - Answer 1) 5 days
2) 3 days
3) 3
1) Who perceives the stimuli and makes decisions?
2) Why is a cell six-sided?* - Answer 1) worker bees- the queen reacts to what they have done
