Mouth organs of the honey bee, functions and description

A honey bee is like a biological machine: every part of the insect's body is designed and tuned by nature itself to perform specific tasks. The bee's mouthparts are no exception.

In the lower front part of the Hymenoptera’s head there is a whole enterprise, where there is a real “machine” for grinding, a suction pipe, a device for licking, as well as a small “chemical laboratory” where the nectar undergoes preliminary enzymatic treatment. Let's take a closer look at this wonderful structure.

Bee mouthparts

This is a licking-gnawing apparatus, which means that her mouth simultaneously chews solid food (using the upper jaws for this) and also sucks in liquid food (the lower jaw fuses with the lower lip, together they form a proboscis that sucks in liquid).

The bee's oral apparatus is located below and contains the upper and lower lip, and five soft muscles that contract and thereby expand the enlarged oral cavity.

Covered by the upper lip, the soft protrusion is located below, and muscles also approach it. Under the mouth opening there is a pre-oral cavity. An important part of the bee’s oral apparatus is also the mandibles (upper jaws) - dense chitinous organs with which the bee gnaws solid food.

Sometimes it happens that when working with bees, one of them lands on the beekeeper's hand. It does not sting, but a slight pain is felt. This happens because it pulls the hair growing from the skin with its upper (front) jaws, also called mandibles.

Benefits of Honey Bees

The benefits of bees are very high and varied. Insects provide healthy and nutritious honey, as well as wax, which is used for various purposes. The same applies to bee venom; it is used to treat certain diseases. Insects pollinate many plants, which has a positive effect on them.

Bees are the most beneficial insects for humans living on the planet, because all beekeeping products are natural antibiotics. Unlike medications that kill human microflora, beekeeping products prevent the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms.

While the bee is alive, it brings the following useful substances:

• I;
• milk;
• honey;
• wax;
• beebread;
• propolis.

Even from the body of a dead bee, healing tinctures are made.

Honey

Honey is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, infectious diseases and colds. With daily consumption of honey, alcohol dependence disappears, so it is impossible to find beekeepers of alcoholics.

Wax

The product is very valuable, used in industrial sectors. Numerous creams and pharmaceutical preparations are created based on beeswax. To prevent colds, it is recommended to chew wax.

Milk

A unique product that contains many microelements. A worker bee lives up to 30 days, a queen bee can live for 6 years, laying many eggs. She feeds exclusively on royal jelly. It is also used to treat many, even serious diseases. Read about how to get royal jelly here.

Propolis

Tinctures are made from propolis and taken in its pure form. They treat burns, frostbite, tuberculosis, and ulcers. Read more about the medicinal properties of propolis here.

Over the past hundred years, about half of the bee species have become extinct, if this continues and all bees will die out. Because of this, flowers will not be pollinated, and the plant world will slowly begin to die. In the future, people may begin to disappear as a species, since they will not have enough food and oxygen (which plants produce).

Mechanism of operation

The mandibles and upper lip are used to capture prey and roll up pieces of wax or other materials when building a nest. The tongue serves to penetrate the nectaries of flowers. The remaining valves of the maxillae and lower lip are adjacent to the glossae and form a series of channels through which saliva flows down and food flows up. There are disagreements among researchers regarding the details of the mechanism that ensures the movement of liquids.

The drone will also independently gnaw the lid of the cell from which it hatches, because it also has (albeit a very small) maxillary tooth.

An insect has to perform very different actions. Gnaw a tree, expanding the entrance, chew wax, preparing a pulp during construction, and also suck up nectar, reaching for it.

The head has a dense covering, but additionally, chitin penetrates it inside, forming a special structure - the tentorium.

Therefore, the parts of the mouth have reliable support, and the head itself is very strong. Bees use it to compact pollen into cells.

Interesting Facts

Beekeepers around the world continue to try to tame the carpenter bee and turn it into an ordinary bee that brings honey. If this happens, beekeepers around the world will have a unique type of bee that will be virtually invulnerable.

But all attempts have not yet brought results: the bee develops and actively lives exclusively in its natural habitat. This species is also valuable because it is able to work actively even in bad, inclement weather. Neither rain nor wind can stop the carpenter bee from covering vast distances and obtaining pollen.

The bee has a reputation as a "loner". This is not entirely true. Despite the fact that each lives separately, each still maintains contact with the other bees. This is due to the reproductive instinct. As a rule, five to six females live in one territory and one male, who guards his territory.

When a new female appears in his zone, the male rises as high as possible and begins to make a loud sound, attracting the attention of the newcomer. If a strong buzzing has no effect, the male is able to climb into her nest and come back out. He does this as many times as it takes for his chosen one to pay attention to him.

He does this as many times as it takes for the chosen one to pay attention to him. If you find this bee within your home, you should take the necessary measures

But first, it’s worth clarifying whether the carpenter bee is included in the Red Book or not. The latest data from scientists suggests that the population of these unique individuals is rapidly declining

If you find this bee within your home, you should take the necessary measures. But first, it’s worth clarifying whether the carpenter bee is included in the Red Book or not. The latest data from scientists suggests that the population of these unique individuals is rapidly declining.

To find the habitat of bees, it is worth remembering a few facts:

• the favorite habitat is dried soft wood;
• to build a nest, the insect chooses exclusively natural materials, so you should not look for the insect, for example, in furniture treated with paints and varnishes;
• monitor the movements of the bee in the spring, when young insects are looking for a place to build their own nest.

If detected, there is no need to completely eliminate insects. It is enough to “drive” them out of their homes using gasoline, agricultural poisons or ordinary water. You can also tightly wall up all the holes in the nest. Another interesting way is to treat the nest and nearby surfaces with citrus extracts.

Lemon, bergamot, lime, orange are suitable. Be careful when using chemicals. Use protective equipment. They will protect against chemicals and unexpected attacks by an angry bee.

Lower jaw (maxilla)

This is a pair and consists of a main segment (cardo), or pendant, a stem (stipes) and an external saber-shaped blade, or galea. The pendant is movably connected via a condyle to a depression at the edge of the head capsule.

Three pectoral muscles are attached to the stem (with the contraction of which the proboscis moves forward into the working position during the absorption of food) and the internal chewing blade (which serves to regulate the functioning of the food and secretory canals).

The stem is attached to the front end of the pendant. At the external end of the stem there is a rudimentary maxillary palp.

The initial (primary) form in insects is the gnawing type of mouthparts, and all other types, or modifications, originated from it. The bee's mouthparts are of the gnawing-sucking-licking type. The oral apparatus includes the upper and lower lips, paired upper and lower jaws.

The anterior parts closely overlap one another, forming the anterior and lateral sides of the proboscis canal.

During feeding of young larvae of worker bees or the queen, the chewing blades are retracted, thereby opening the preoral cavity and allowing the secretion of the pharyngeal glands to escape.

In the extended position, the galea of ​​the right and left mandibles are folded together, connecting along the rib.

Due to the movement of the chewing blades, a straight channel is formed while sucking nectar with the proboscis.

Basic content rules

Beekeeping requires at least minimal knowledge of the way of life of bee families, their needs, starting from the location of the “house” and its arrangement.

Place

The apiary is located in dry areas protected from the wind; it is advisable to fence it by planting shrubs. Honey plants are planted on the site.

Important! You cannot set up an apiary close to roads and industrial facilities: in the first case, the distance is at least five hundred meters, in the second - up to five kilometers

Rules for arranging a home for bees

The hive houses are placed at a distance of three meters from each other, ten meters between the rows. To help bees recognize their homes, they are painted in white, yellow or blue shades.

To protect against insect pests, the windows of the “houses” are covered with fine mesh. The apiary must be equipped with drinking bowls; insects also feel thirsty.

Features of the digestive system

The crop is a specific bee organ for carrying and processing nectar into honey. It can stretch and hold up to 90 ml of content, this is with a total bee weight of 110 mg! True, it is usually filled no more than half.

The goiter is located between the mouth and the stomach; it is separated from the latter by a special one-way valve - proventriculus. When squeezed, the stomach is more likely to burst than even a small amount of its contents gets into the goiter.

Another specific feature of the bee’s anatomy is the presence of special rectal glands located at the base of the rectum. The fact is that the bee only eats all winter, without excrement.

Enzymes of the pharyngeal, hypopharyngital gland, developed only in working individuals, invert complex sugars into simple ones. The nectar is gradually processed into honey.

They accumulate in the rectum, and their weight can reach half the total weight of the individual. To protect the contents from unwanted processes, the rectal glands secrete an antiseptic enzyme.

Life cycle of bees

The bee family consists of three names:

• Drones.
• Worker bees.
• Uterus.

Their life cycle is completely different, the life span of a bee depends on the caste, for example, a queen bee can live 7 years, a worker bee can live 8 weeks, and drones die at a maximum of five weeks.

A new family is created by the queen in May-June. First, the males are expelled and cells are laid for the birth of a new queen. As soon as she is born, approximately half of the worker bees fly away from the hive with their queen. First, they wait on the branch until the bee finds a new place to live.

The young queen flies out into the air with the drones, mates with them and returns to her place to lay eggs. Bees in the new nest build honeycombs, where they collect nectar and pollen for storage and for feeding the new generation.

In July, bees store honey for the winter, and with the onset of cold weather they cover up the cracks, and in winter they sit together on the honeycombs and feed on the prepared food.

In the hive, bees communicate with each other using movements, namely, if one bee has found plants that contain a lot of nectar and pollen, it returns to the house, spins around on the honeycomb, wagging its abdomen. Thus, she explains to the others where to fly. She also conveys the aroma of a flower from which she recently collected nectar.

Uterus

When winter ends, the queen lays eggs, and after 3 weeks the larvae hatch. They are fed by worker bees for about a week, then the larva is sealed with wax in a cell, where it turns into a doll, and then into an adult.

After 12 days, the imago appears, this is an insect that differs from an adult bee in the soft coverings of its body. She feeds the brood, cleans the hive and does other household chores.

The role of the queen is to replenish the hives with brood, increasing the colony. She can fly out of the house only during the swarming period.

Worker bees

In an elite colony there are about 70,000 worker bees in the summer and about 20,000 in the winter. They all came from the same womb. Bees clean their home of pollution, feed their offspring and drones.

From the 16th to the 20th day of life, some bees process honey from nectar. 20 days after hatching, the bee flies around, memorizing its hive, and each time it increases the distance.

Drones

Males do not have a sting and are large in size. Their only task is to fertilize the uterus. An interesting fact is that as soon as the male fertilizes the female, he immediately falls and dies. Therefore, their life cycle is different. Many drones hatch from the brood, many more than are necessary, so the bees simply expel the extra and weak individuals. Read more about drones here.

Hive bees

Hive bees are young individuals who work only inside their house, their responsibilities include:

• Feeding the larvae.
• Construction of new cells.
• Maintaining optimal temperature.
• Cleaning and ventilating the nest.
• Taking nectar from summer bees and processing it into honey.
• Insulation of walls with propolis.

They then change from hive bees to summer bees.

Summer bees

Summer bees do not live long, about 8 weeks. For the first 10 days they are not able to feed themselves and eat only pollen, but when they grow up and become feeders, their feeding glands are well developed. Summer bees fly into the field on the 15th day of their life, and some even earlier. In addition to nectar and pollen, they also collect honeydew from plants.

Bee palps

The palps have lost the function of sensory organs and are part of the proboscis, the organ of food intake. When a bee eats food, the palps form the posterior and partially lateral walls of the large proboscis tube.

Paraglossae cover the base of the tongue on both sides in the form of short semicircular plates that can bend and press the tongue tightly.

In a pressed position, they ensure the passage of salivary gland secretions into the canal of the uvula, and in an extended position, they open the direct passage of food through a large tube into the mouth.

Difference between honey bees and wild bees

There are both domestic and wild honey bees in nature, differing in characteristics and appearance. Wild bees are more hardworking and more resistant to temperature changes, but they are too aggressive. The quality of the honey produced is also different from homemade honey; it is better and healthier because it has time to fully ripen in the hollow. From year to year, the number of wild bees is falling, as they are influenced by anthropogenic factors, leading to their death.

Domestic bees live in a hive, which is built with the help of a person in the form of a hollow. After the swarm flies to another house, everyone is actively engaged in the construction of wax honeycombs, thus saving wax. Some cells contain honey, while others contain pollen and larvae.

Honey bees independently clean the hive from dust and harmful insects and, with the help of their wings, maintain the required room temperature.

Honey bees are very useful insects that exist on our planet. Without them, humanity simply would not survive. Thanks to bees, flowers grow, people receive healing honey, and many diseases are treated. Before you start breeding honey bees, you should study detailed information about them so that there are no problems when caring for them.

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Structure

This type was formed under the influence of the evolutionary relationships of insects with pollinated plants. In the gnawing-licking mouthparts, all the main structures of the original prototype were preserved, but these structures were somewhat modified.

The upper lip and mandibles underwent the least changes. The maxillae and labium became a collection of flattened and elongated elements, and the fused glossae (usually called the uvula) formed into a retractable, groove-like organ.

The bee's tongue consists of alternating rings of soft, elastic and dense cuticle.

Rings of dense cuticle bear hairs facing the end of the tongue. This structure gives the tongue flexibility, strength and elasticity. The rings that form the tongue do not close in one place, due to which a thin capillary channel is formed along the entire length of the tongue.

Structure and functions of the sting

Only females have a sting; drones do not. It developed as a protective adaptation of the family in the process of evolution from the ovipositor and 11–12 abdominal segments.

The sting contains a reservoir of poison - a thick liquid with a sharp-bitter taste, a complex structure, yellowish color and a specific odor. The injection tube consists of two movable slides with inclined serrations.

The notches do not allow the sting to be pulled out from the elastic human skin; when bitten, the entire apparatus breaks off along with the tip of the abdomen. As a result, the bee dies, and the sled tries to penetrate the body, moving alternately, that is, the sting functions on its own, gaining depth and introducing poison.

Therefore, the first aid to a stung person is to carefully remove the part torn from the bee before all the poison is injected.

This is a rather delicate job, since pressing the container will inject the poison under the skin, like from a tube syringe.

So, the structure of the honey bee’s mouthparts differs little from the mouthparts of other insects. The mouthparts of a bee contain all the organs that other insects have; they are partially modified and perform other functions.

Common Breeds

There are a large number of honey bees, they can be distinguished by appearance, color and some other features. A description of the most popular bees can be found in the table: