If you missed it (and how could you!), we finished up the 12 days of honey bees this week, conveniently aligned with the Twelve Days of Christmas. For future posterity, here is the complete list of days.
May you prosper and find honey.
The Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 12. A honey bee worker has 12 (or so) mouth parts.
Bees in general have rather complex mouthparts to access the inner rewards found in flowers with all sorts of configurations. Since we not mentioned the honey bee proboscis (tongue) or mandibles yet, this seems like a good place to do so. These higher numbers are a real challenge, but the parts a honey bee’s mouth is a useful way to finish our honey bee days. Another option for 12 was honey bee pheromones, although there are actually more than 12 of these.
Continue readingThe Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 11. A honey bee worker has eleven (or so) parts on each hind leg.
Finding an eleven in honey bees is a challenge, so I ended up with the many parts of a worker’s hind leg. If you have a better suggestion for this number, please let me know in the comments. Other options include the roughly 11 days a worker spends as egg and larva, and extending our prior day to simply say the male bees have 11 flagomeres on their antennae.
Continue readingThe Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 10. A honey bee worker has 10 flagomeres on her flagellum.
What the heck is a flagomere, you say? Well, I am here to tell you. You may remember from Day 2 that a honey bee antenna has three parts: the scape, the pedicel, and the flagellum. The scape and pedicel allow the bee to flex each antenna in all sorts of ways. The flagellum is where the various receptors are located. The flagellum is composed of segments, called flagomeres, with 10 flagomeres on female bees (workers and queens) and 11 on male bees (drones).
Continue readingThe Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 9. A honey bee has nine abdominal segments.
You may have thought our numbered anatomy was finished, but no! The honey bee abdomen is composed of nine overlapping segments that allow a worker to curl her body while crawling, foraging, or stinging. In fact, when a worker bee is full of honey or nectar, as in a swarm, she is unable to sting because she cannot curl her abdomen.
Continue readingWelcome to the Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 6. A honey bee has six legs.
All insects, in fact, have six legs, often with one or more specializations. Most bees have a number of specializations on their legs, and this includes honey bees. An insect’s legs attach to the thorax and are normally composed of five main segments: the coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus. Honey bees have evolved a metatarsus in addition to the segments of the tarsus.
Continue readingThe Twelve Days of Honey Bees, Day 5. A honey bee has five eyes.
Yes, indeed, a honey bee has five eyes. Two compound eyes as in most insects, and three ocelli that act as photoreceptors to detect the intensity and direction of light. The ocelli (plural of ocellus, of course) help honey bees navigate during flight. They likely aid foragers when following waggle dance instructions received from other bees.
Continue readingThe Twelve Days of Honey Bees: Day 3. A honey bee has a three-part body.
Like all insects and all bees, honey bees have three body parts called the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head is where the bee’s eyes, mandibles, tongue (proboscis), and antenna are found, while the thorax is where the legs and wings attach. The abdomen holds the bulk of the bee’s internal organs and, of course, the stinger.
Continue readingWelcome to the Twelve Days of Honey Bees: Day 2. A honey bee has two antennae.
The antennae is the primary sensory organ for a bee, providing touch, smell, hearing, and taste all in two slender stalks. Each antenna is attached to the head in a bowl-like socket, followed by three main parts called the scape, the pedicel, and the flagellum.
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This Halictidae bee on a mountain mint flower is a Augochlorella aurata. Taken on July 21, 2019. ©Erik Brown
One of my bee goals for the year was to understand native bee species a bit better. I’m not sure how well I’ve done overall, though I have taken a bunch of pictures. In a small attempt to rectify this, allow me to discuss one scientific family of bees, the family Halictidae. Continue reading
Bees with eeb 