Other bees
There are over 20,000 different bee species in the world, most of them wild, and come in all shapes and sizes. Many wild bee species forage specifically on certain plants and depend on particular habitat and nesting structures.
While managed honey bees live in beehives, wild bees rely on a variety of habitats. Different species burrow into the ground or in wood, some nest in ready-made homes like abandoned snail shells while others look for holes in stone walls. Most species of wild bee are solitary and do not live in colonies. Many bumble bees and stingless bees are an exception – they form a colony, including a queen, drones and worker bees.
The composition of wild bee species varies greatly around the world, with the highest number found in warmer temperate areas such as the Mediterranean basin, the Californian region and certain semi-desert areas. Among them are bumble bees, stingless bees, carpenter bees and orchid bees.
Here a few examples showing the diversity of bees:
Lasioglossum ereptor
////////// Some bees can live at high altitudes. Take, for instance, the bee species Lasioglossum ereptor, which lives around the vegetation line of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, some 4,500 meters above sea level.
Megachile
////////// Leafcutter bees (Megachile) live up to their name by cutting circular sections from leaves (between 6 and 12 millimeters wide) and using the cuttings to build nests in which they place their eggs.