Today’s letter C is for corbicula, or pollen basket. The corbicula (plural corbiculae, of course) is where honey bees place their pollen while foraging. It is part of the tibia on the hind legs of some female bees, and is essentially a hollow tube in the leg where the bee pushes pollen, along with a plate, or pollen press, When the bee flexes the leg, the pollen is pressed into the basket (and squishes out the sides a bit, too).

The corbiculae is specific to a select set of bees in the family Apidae, subfamily Apinae. There are four tribes in the Apinae subfamily that have corbicula, sometimes referred to as the clade Corbiculata. These four tribes are the Apini (honey bees), Bombini (bumble bees), Euglossini (orchid bees), and Meliponini (stingless bees).

The corbiculae is unique to the four types of bees listed. Other bees collect pollen as well, of course. In most bees this is performed using a dense mass of hairs on the hind legs, called a scopa.

If you want to see the whole alphabet in this series, you can start with letter A.

May you prosper and find honey.