Honeybee (Apis mellifera) gathering Nectar on a Sunflower Plant (Helianthus annuus). Habitat: Fields, orchards. Season: April-October. Body rounded. Thorax hairy, brown; abdomen banded black and golden. Wings dusky. Makes honey; pollinates crops; nest in tree holes very rarely on ground. Introduced from Eurasia. Stings but not aggressive. Their legs are used for cleaning the antennae; hind legs have pollen baskets, and pollen scrapers, and so on. The pollen basket or 'corbicular' is part of the hind tibia of the back (posterior) legs of the honeybee. Pollen is removed from the pollen combs by a row of stiff hairs at the end of the tibia and then is pushed upward into the pollen baskets by means of the projection which is just below the tibial comb at the basal tarsal segment. Honey and or nectar is used to moisten the dry pollen. The mixing of the pollen with nectar and honey changes color of the pollen. Summer. Belchertown, MA. USA. Wild.