Questions for ‘What biologists call a species is becoming more than just a name’
![a honeybee on a purple flower](https://www.snexplores.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/1030_muddy_taxonomy_feat.jpg)
Western honey bees originally had a lengthy name describing their appearance. In Systema Naturae, naturalist Carl Linnaeus shortened the name to Apis mellifera, which means “honey-bearing bee.”
Jim, the Photographer (CC BY 2.0)