Today’s letter G is for Glossa. The glossa is the tongue of an insect, especially the tube-like structure used by bees to ingest nectar and other liquids. While the word proboscis is often used for a bee’s tongue, the tongue is in fact made up of many different parts, as we saw in a post on Mouth parts earlier this year (as part of The 12 Days of Honey Bees series).
Continue readingMonth: November 2023
F is for floral fidelity
Today’s letter F is for floral fidelity (see that alliteration there!). While honey bees are generalists and will gather nectar from pretty much any available flower, they prefer to forage from one plant at a time. This is called floral fidelity, and a honey bee will forage from a single type of flower on each foraging trip. Indeed, honey bees prefer to forage from the same plant all day long, and for this reason prefer trees, shrubs, and other plants with a plethora of flowers.
Continue readingE is for Exoskeleton
Today’s letter E is for exoskeleton, the outer shell on most arthropods, from insects to spiders to crabs. Mammals like you and I have endoskeletons, and internal frame for the rest of our bodies. Both types of skeletons provide a structural frame for the animal, and some animals such as turtles have both an internal (endo) and external (exo) skeleton.
In bees, the exoskeleton covers of the segments of the bee: the head, thorax, and abdomen, as well as legs and antennae. The exoskeleton is composed of a polymer of glucose and can support a lot of weight with very little material (from bee-health.extension.org), and protects bees from desiccation (losing water). Having an exoskeleton also prevents adult bees from growing, meaning they must shed their skin repeating during larval stages in order to grow.
Continue readingD is for Dufour
Today’s letter D is for Dufour, as in Dufour’s gland. First discovered by Léon Jean Marie Dufour in 1841, Dufour’s gland occurs in the abdomen of some female insects, part of the sting apparatus in some bees, wasps, and ants of the suborder Apocrita. Exocrine glands like Dufour’s glands secrete chemicals, but the nature and function of Dufour’s gland secretions are not well understood (see pensoft.net article).
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Bees with eeb 