The honeybee is an insect that is classified within the hymenoptera order. Their body is organised into a head (cephalon), a thorax of three body segments, and an abdomen. On the head are two pairs of geniculate antennae, three dot eyes (ocelli), a pair of large compound eyes, and the proboscis limbs, which form a sucker. This has well-developed first jaws (mandibles) for cutting, and a long, hairy tongue, which is formed by the elongated and fused parts of the posterior jaws (labial glossa). The tongue is surrounded by the antennae of the posterior middle jaws (labial palps, maxillary glossa), which together with the tongue form a kind of trumpet. The thorax is strongly centralised, the largest being the middle thoracic segment (mesothorax). There is a pair of legs on all three segments. The last pair has strongly flattened tibiae and a set of bristles, which serve the bee in collecting pollen. The middle (mesothorax) and last (metathorax) thoracic segments each carry one pair of membranous, sparsely veined wings. The first pair of wings is larger, the second smaller pair. During flight, both pairs of wings are connected by hooks (retinaculum). The abdomen is sharply separated from the thorax due to the narrowing of the first abdominal segments. The abdomen is legless and the retractable stinger (a modified ovipositor) is transformed into a sting with a barb.

The Carniolan honeybee is the best-known bee species of over 540 species registered in Slovenia. Most Slovenian bees live a solitary life, while a smaller part are classified as eusocial species. The Carniolan honeybee is one of the latter. Due to its eusocial life, the Carniolan honeybee is of commercial interest and has enabled beekeeping to flourish in our country.

Bees are holometabolous insects. Their life cycle consists of four stages: eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. They live in families formed by the queen, workers, drones and brood. The queen is the reproductive female who lays eggs and is the largest of all the inhabitants of the family. In a short period of time, the young queen flies to the open field and mates with several drones. When mating, she tears off their testicles, stores them, then returns to the family and only lays eggs for the rest of her life. She is cared for and fed by the workers. All the offspring of the queen are related, sisters or half-sisters. Males or drones develop from unfertilized eggs, which are recognized by their larger eyes and larger body size. They do not have a special role in the hive and are often driven out of the hive by the workers. Females, either young queens or sterile workers, develop from fertilized eggs. The development of the larvae is determined by the care of the larvae: if they are fed royal jelly and more sugar, queens develop, otherwise workers. The mother often kills the young queens; if they grow up, they fly away with the rest of the family to their own. The workers are involved in the work in the hive and change several roles (castes) throughout their lives. At first they take care of the brood, later they stay at the hive mouth as guards and finally they fly to collect honey and pollen. The sequence of castes is dynamic and they adapt their roles to current needs. The biology of bees is astonishing and worth reading.