Around 20,000 species, and most of them are solitary
Scientists have described roughly 20,000 bee species across seven recognised families, ranging from tiny sweat bees a few millimetres long to large carpenter bees several centimetres in length. Only a small fraction, the honey bees, genus Apis, and some bumble and stingless bees, form large social colonies.
An estimated 90 percent of bee species are solitary, each female builds and provisions her own nest, often in the ground, hollow stems, or existing tunnels in wood, without workers or a queen. Mason bees and leafcutter bees are common, highly effective pollinators in this category.
The Western honey bee is native to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East and has been domesticated and transported worldwide for honey production and crop pollination. It is the species most people picture, but it represents a small slice of global bee diversity.
Around 250 bumble bee species live mostly in temperate and cool climates. Their ability to 'buzz pollinate', vibrating flight muscles to shake pollen loose from certain flowers such as tomatoes and blueberries, makes them uniquely effective for crops that honey bees cannot pollinate as well.
In tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, hundreds of species of stingless bees form social colonies and have long been kept for honey by Indigenous and local communities, playing a role culturally and ecologically similar to the honey bee elsewhere.