What Is a Male Bee Called?

A male bee is called a drone. Male honeybees do not have stingers and are the product of an unfertilized egg. The female worker bees collect nectar and pollen, but the sole purpose of a drone’s life is to mate with the queen and produce offspring.

Mating occurs mid-air and is very violent for the drone. After copulation occurs, the drone’s phallus rips from his body and stays inside the queen. The drone dies quickly afterwards. The queen bee mates with multiple drones during her flight and stores the sperm for later use. Drones that do not die are driven from the hive before the winter.