What is a male bee commonly called?

The term for a male bee is "drone." Drones are specifically responsible for mating with a queen during the breeding season. They do not participate in other hive activities, such as foraging for food or caring for the young, which are tasks typically handled by worker bees.

In contrast, worker bees are females and perform various roles such as gathering nectar and pollen, maintaining the hive, and caring for the queen's offspring. The queen is the sole reproductive female in the colony, whose primary role is to lay eggs. Scout bees are a special type of worker bee that search for new food sources or potential nesting sites but do not represent the male aspect of the bee population. Understanding these roles highlights the unique structure and function of a bee colony.