Honey Bee Morphology

Question 1

What functions do the exoskeleton serve?

Answer 1

• protection
• prevent dehydration
• attachment of organs

Question 2

What are the ocelli on honey bees? What do they do, and how many are there?

Answer 2

Ocelli are simple eyes, honey bees have three of them that detect light intensity and help with orientation during flight

Question 3

Explain the compound eyes of honey bees

Answer 3

Also called ommatidia, they are thousands of single eyes with a fixed lens all looking in a different direction (because they cannot move their eyes). They use them to see colours, and form a composed, mosaic image

Question 4

What colours can honey bees see?

Answer 4

• UV
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Violet

Question 5

What colour can honey bees NOT see?

Answer 5

Red

Question 6

What is the function of the antennae?

Answer 6

Acts as the nose to detect odours, but also CO2, humidity, flavours, temperature, and air flow

Question 7

What is the structure of the antennae?

Answer 7

Composed of 12 segments, has sense organs called sensilla on plates, pits, and hairs

Question 8

How does mandible function differ between honey bee castes?

Answer 8

Drones: not much function
Workers: grooming, cutting and shaping wax scales Taking in of pollen, shaping and chewing wax, fighting, grooming, dragging out of debris from the nest, brood feeding, gathering and using propolis and to support other mouth parts.
Queens: fighting with other queens

Question 9

What are the different segments of the thorax?

Answer 9

Prothorax - closest to head
Mesothorax - middle
Metathorax - closer to abomen
Propodeum - end of body

Question 10

Where are the wings and legs attached to honey bees?

Answer 10

The mesothorax and metathorax

Question 11

What is a special feature on the forelegs of honey bees?

Answer 11

A leg notch with bristles for cleaning antennae

Question 12

What is a special feature on the hind legs of honey bees?

Answer 12

A pollen basket, where they comb themselves of pollen, moisten the grains into a paste, place into basket, and bring back to the hive

Question 13

How does pollen end up on honey bees?

Answer 13

When foraging they brush the anthers of flowers, and the negatively charged pollen attaches to positively charged hairs on the honey bee

Question 14

True or false: honey bee blood, haemolymph, is red

Answer 14

False
Haemolymph lacks RBCs, and is transparent. Haemolymph is the defense cells of bees for immune function

Question 15

How fast can honey bees fly?

Answer 15

Up to 24km/hr, beating their wings 200 times per second

Question 16

How many segments make up the abdomen of honey bees?

Answer 16

7 segments

Question 17

What structures are held in the abdomen?

Answer 17

• most of digestive tract
• circulatory system
• respiratory system

Question 18

How do bees get oxygen if they don’t use RBCs or haemolymph to transport it?

Answer 18

Spiracles on the bee’s body take in air, air sacs store air, and thousands of trachea branch out from the air sacs throughout the body

Question 19

What is the circulatory system of honey bees classified as?

Answer 19

Semi-open, because the heart and aorta are fused

Question 20

True or false: honey bees won’t fly at temperatures below 13 degrees C

Answer 20

True

Question 21

What is the structure of the honey bee defense system?

Answer 21

The stinger consists of the stylet, lancets on either side that are barbed, a poison sac and a poison canal

Question 22

How do bees make beeswax?

Answer 22

They have wax glands on abdomen, located between the 4th and 7th segments. The glands secrete a liquid that hardens into scales. The bees can hold the scales with their legs and shape them with their mandibles.

Question 23

What is the function of the Nosonov glands in honey bees?

Answer 23

• orients bees towards hive entrance, flowers, swarm clusters
• scents differ between colonies

Question 24

What do the mandibular glands produce in young worker bees?

Answer 24

Lipid for larval food
(10-hydroxi-2-decenoic acid)

Question 25

What do the mandibular glands of older worker bees produce?

Answer 25

Alarm pheromone
(2-heptanone)

Question 26

What do the mandibular glands of queen bees produce?

Answer 26

Queen substance

Question 27

What are the different functions of queen substance?

Answer 27

• colony recognition
• attraction of drones
• stimulates foraging
• inhibits queen rearing, swarming, and worker egg laying

Question 28

True or false: alarm pheromone in guard bees contains IPA

Answer 28

True

Question 29

What is the function of the Arnhart glands found on bees legs?

Answer 29

Acts as a footprint substance to guide other workers

Question 30

What is the function of the salivary glands and head glands?

Answer 30

• produce saliva that dissolves sugars in nectar and softens pollen grains
• produce royal jelly for feeding larvae

Question 31

The enzyme ________ breaks the bond between ___________ and _________ in nectar to produce honey.

Answer 31

Invertase
Fructose
Glucose

Question 32

What nutritional components is royal jelly rich in?

Answer 32

• protein
• lipids
• vitamins

Question 33

Queen bees can lay up to _____ eggs per day, and more than _________ in their lifetime.

Answer 33

2000
a million

Question 34

The queen has an organ called the _________ that can store 5-9 million sperm cells.

Answer 34

Spermatheca