Either way, whether it’s in a scopa or pollen basket, the pollen masses will stick to the bee as she carries it back to the nest for storage/consumption. Rather than trapping pollen between dense hairs, corbiculate bees tamp their collected pollen into that smooth region. The corbicula is a smooth, semi-concave area on the hind tibia surrounded hairs. However, members of the Apinae subfamily (corbiculate bees) use corbiculae, or pollen baskets, in place of scopa. A majority of species have a dense mass of hairs known as scopa, usually found on the legs, or the underside of the abdomen for megachilids bees stick and trap the pollen between those hairs. Female bees have special body parts for transporting pollen. Later, the bees will brush themselves off, using their hairy legs to groom off the pollen. This is due the fact that bees collect pollen as a food source, so the hairs help to pick pollen, which stick to the hairs as bees rummage through the flower. Taken from Wikimedia Commons.īees are also noticably hairy or furry. Note the mass of pollen on the tibia, surrounded by hairs. Stingers used to be used by the modern bee’s ancestor as an egg laying structure, which is why males don’t have them.Ī foraging bumblebee. Another obvious marker is the presence of a stinger, which only females have. You can count the plates that segment the top of the abdomen, as females will have six and males will have seven. For a more reliable method of determining sex, look towards the bee’s abdomen. These markings can be used to distinguish bee families or genera, and in some species they may be reveal the sex of the bee. Many bees will typically have markings there, usually white or yellow or sometimes red in coloration. Also on the face between the eyes and below the antennae is a plate called the clypeus. Hidden behind that is the mouth, which includes a tongue structure called a proboscis that bees stick out to nip nectar. Near the bottom of the head is a pincher like pair of jaws, which allow bees to grip items or chew. These are ocelli, or simple eyes, which help bees to orientate themselves and navigate to and from the nest. The other three eyes are located in the center of ‘forehead’ on the top the bee’s head, in a sort of upside-down triangle arrangement. Altogether, they allow the bee to perceive shapes, color, and light, including ultraviolet light which humans can’t see. The two larger eyes on the side of the head are compound eyes, made of thousands of tiny lenses. As members of Insecta, all bees have a body divided into three segments – the head, thorax, and abdomen – as well as six legs, antennae, and the typical two pairs of wings the hind wings are typically smaller than the fore wings and are folded beneath the fore wings when at rest. As the name implies, the bees’ primary food source is nectar and pollen from flowers. Taken from © Arizona Board of Regents / ASU Ask A Biologist.īees are insects that make up the clade Anthophilia (“antho-” and “-philia” are Greek for “flower” and “love” respectively, literallly “flower lovers”).
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