Today’s letter T is for Tarsus, the final segment of an insect’s leg. In the honey bee, the tarsus has five segments, or tarsomeres. The legs of the honey bee are rather amazing, from storing pollen to cleaning antennae to walking vertically or even upside down.

We talked about legs in our 12 Days of Honey Bees on Day 6: Legs. The tarsal segments, or tarsomeres, end in a tarsal claw. This claw has tiny hairs that help the bee walk vertically or upside down on surfaces. It also has a small tarsal gland that emits the footprint pheromone left by bees as they walk about the hive (marking their territory, so to speak). The footprint pheromone is useful when foraging for other bees to sense whether a bee has already visited a flower. The queen’s footprint pheromone also suppresses the development of queen cups.

The following image from April 2022 shows many bee legs, including the tarsus.

May you prosper and find honey.