Honey Bees are one of the most recognisable 😘🥰

Australia's early European settlers introduced Honey Bees to ensure a good supply of honey.

Identification
Honey Bees are one of the most recognisable insects and are the most commonly domesticated bee species in the world. They are somewhat variable in colour but are usually brown with a banded dull yellow and brown abdomen. The head, thorax and abdomen are densely covered in hair. The legs and around the eyes are also hairy. These highly social insects live in large hives dominated by a single queen. The queen is larger than workers or the male drones, and is responsible for egg laying and for controlling the hive using pheromones. The majority of the hive is made up of worker bees that build and maintain the hive, and collect nectar and pollen to feed the developing bee larvae.

Native bees and wasps and some flies can look superficially similar to honey bees. The only native bees to form large social hives are the stingless bees (Tetragonula and Austroplebia). These bees are very dark coloured, and are much smaller than honey bees (less than 5mm long), and do not sting. Other solitary native bees and wasps may look like honey bees, but are not aggressive, and do not have a barbed sting. Some flies are excellent mimics of honey bees, but have only one pair of wings and not sting.