1. Honey production

1.1 Honey-producing insects and foraging behavior

• Honey is produced by various genera of Hymenoptera, most often in quantities just sufficient to feed their larvae (polistes wasps, some types of ants...) and, very frequently, mixed with pure pollen and agglomerated into balls, thus making the "bee bread" on which an egg is laid (solitary bees, such as Megachilidae: Megachila, Osmia, Xylocopa...). Only certain social Apidae produce sufficient honey to feed the brood (Bombus, Trigonini...), but few species can be reared in hives (Melipona, Apis).

Bees live in virtually all closed biotopes (forests, oases) or open ones (plains, savannahs), and in all climates with the exception of the polar regions.

In Europe,...