Bee

A Bee is a Flying Insect which is in fact is the Most Familiar Insect in the World. They are closely related to Wasps and Ants. Bees belong to the Superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the Unranked Taxon name Anthophila. Bees, like Ants, are a Specialized Form of Wasp. Scientists consider that Bees and flowering plants both evolved around 100 million years ago, in the middle of the Cretaceous period. Fossil evidence supports this theory - the oldest known Bee fossil is 100 million years old, and the preserved Bee has several Wasp-like features. The Ancestors of Bees were Wasps in the Family Crabronidae, and therefore predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects that were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the Wasp Larvae. Bees are famous for pollination and are renowned for producing Honey and Beeswax. The nectar is a sugary fluid includes the aromatic oils that give flowers their scent, as well as other trace substances. When the Bees forage for nectar, Pollen sticks to the fuzzy hairs which cover their bodies. Some of this Pollen rubs off on the next flower they visit, fertilizing the flower and resulting in better fruit production. Some plants will not produce fruit at all without the help of Bees.

Bees have Four Stages of life. These are:

1.  Egg - The Queen Bee lays soft white eggs in the Comb. The Egg Stage takes place during days 1 through 3.

2.  Larva - In three days, the egg hatches into a Larva. The Larva is fed with a substance produced in the Nurse Vees' 'Hyperpharyngeal Glands', called Bee Milk or Royal Jelly. The Larva stage takes place during days 4 through 9. It is also this time that the Larva starts spins a Cocoon around itself.

3.  Pupa - In the Cocoon, the Larva turns into a Pupa. It now has eyes, wings, and legs. It looks more like a Bee. This stage is during days 10 through 23, depending on the type of Bee it will become.
 
4.  Adult - This is the final stage in a Bee's complete metamorphosis. It is full grown. The Bee chews its way out of the cell. It becomes an adult on days 16 through 24, depending on what type of Bee it is.

There are nearly 20,000 known species of Bees in Seven to Nine recognized families, though many are undescriptive and the actual number is probably higher. The Bees in each Family have Traits in common, like methods for building nests. Different Species usually have different physical traits, like wing shape or tongue length.

Types of Bees

• Africanized Honeybees - These are a Hybrid Strain of Apis mellifera derived from experiments to cross European and African Honeybees by Warwick Estevam Kerr. Several Queen Bees escaped his laboratory in South America and have spread throughout the Americas. Africanized Honeybees are more defensive than European Honeybees. These are similar to European Honeybees, but they are more aggressive when it comes to defending their nests. This aggressiveness has earned them the title of Killer Bees.

• Bumblebees - These are large and hairy. The general colour is black and yellow. These display social behaviour and live in colonies. In tropical regions, there are some varieties of Stingless Bumblebees. This Species live in Deserted Holes made by rodents and other small animals.

• Carpenter Bees - These have metal-like, black colour and no yellow marks. Their length is 2 to 2.5 inches. They have solitary behaviour and cannot prepare Wax. From flower to flower, they can travel long distances. The nests these Bees make are in flower stalks or wood. They have got their name because they make tunnels in solid Wood. Wherever they build a tunnel one can find a pile of sawdust near the nest entrance.

• Cellophane Bees - These are considered to be the most primitive because of their similarity to Wasps. They have short and forked tongues and are relatively hairless. Their nest tunnels and larval cells are created with a secretion that becomes as hard as a Cellophane Membrane, therefore the name. They use a method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouth parts; these secretions dry into a Cellophane-like lining which also gives them the name Plasterer Bees.

• Ground Bees - These dig tunnels in the ground and hence are also called Mining Bees. These tunnels are made to provide shelter for their offspring. They choose Well-shaded areas having loose soil and scarce vegetation. Female Bees make Chambers at the end of the tunnels which are used for storing food for their offspring. The Ground Bee is black in colour, small in size and can sting. Normally, they are not aggressive. However, when they feel threatened they can attack. These Bees are either Solitary or Communal and live in Separate but close by Nests.

• Honeybees - These are generally small in size and are generally black. However, some have a brown-yellow centre. These are extremely social in nature. These produce honey from the nectar of the flowers. That is why they are the most famous and known all over the world.

• Leafcutter and Mason Bees - These Bees make their nests in pre-existing cavities or live in collections of individual nests. They have long tongues and special pollen carrying hairs on the bottom side of the abdomen. 

• Orchid Bees - They are brightly coloured and are metallic in appearance. It is thought that orchids and Orchid Bees co-evolved and hence they are dependent on each other. They have a long proboscis and store the nectar very deep within their blossoms. These are one of the few species where males are engaged in productive activity other than mating. Males gather fragrant oils from blossoms by employing the scraper-like segments of the legs. It is guessed that these oils are used to attract mates.

• Parasitic Bees - These are also called Cuckoo Bees. These do not search for food or build nests on their own. Instead, they use the nests and food of other Bees. They can be classified into 'Cleptoparasitic Bees' and 'Social Parasites'. Females of these Bees lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa). They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting Species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host Bee. When the Cuckoo Bee Larva hatches it consumes the host Larva's pollen ball, and if the Female Cleptoparasite has not already done so, kills and eats the host Larva. In a few cases where the hosts are Social Species, the Cleptoparasite remains in the host nest and lays many eggs, sometimes even killing the host Queen and replacing her. Many Cleptoparasitic Bees are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size, (i.e., the Bombus subgenus Psithyrus, which are Parasitic Bumblebees that infiltrate nests of Species in other subgenera of Bombus).

• Sweat Bees - These are known so as they are attracted to the salt in human sweat. As they have no Sting they are also known as Stingless Bees. They are small and Dark-Coloured Bees. They have little hair. Their nests are created in the ground. They have societies in which related individuals assist one another.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom - Animalia.
Phylum - Arthropoda.
Class - Insecta.
Order - Hymenoptera.
Suborder - Apocrita.
Superfamily - Apoidea.
(Unranked) - Anthophila.

Physical Features

• The body of a Bee is covered in an Exoskeleton (external skeleton) made from small, movable plates of Chitin.

• A Bee's body is also covered in lots of fuzzy, branched hair, which collects pollen and helps regulate body temperature.

• The body of a Bee has Three sections - the Head, the Thorax and the Abdomen.

• A Bee has Two Sensory Antennae on it's head.

• It has Five Eyes - Three Simple Eyes, or Ocelli, and Two Compound Eyes. The Compound Eyes are made of lots of small, repeating eye parts called Ommatidia. In each Compound Eye, about 150 Ommatidia specialize in seeing patterns. This allows Bees to detect Polarized Light (vibrating in a definite pattern).

• A Bee has Complex Mouth Parts that it uses to eat and drink.

A Bees Mouth consists of -

1. Paired Mandibles or Jaws.
2. A Glossa or Tongue.
3. A Labrum and Two Maxillae - The Labrum and Maxillae are like Lips. They support a Proboscis, or Tube for collecting nectar.

• A Bee has Two Pairs of Wings and Three Pairs of Legs connect to its Thorax. The Wings are extremely thin pieces of the Bee's Skeleton. In many Species, the front Wings are larger than the Back Wings. A row of Hooks called Hamuli connect the Front and Rear Wings so they beat together when the Bee is flying.

• A Bee's Legs is composed of Segments which are the Coxa (bee's hip), Trochanter, Femur (thigh), Tibia (shin) and Tarsus (foot). The Tiny Joints separate each Segment.

A Bee's Legs can also have several specialized structures, including:

1. Brush, Comb and Basket-like hairs for collecting pollen.
2. A Pad and Claw for holding and manipulating objects.
3. A small Groove for removing pollen from the Antenna.
4. A Press for packing pollen.

• The Abdomen of a Bee has almost no Appendages, but it houses nearly all of the Bee's Internal Organs. Passageways called Spiracules allow the Bee to breathe, and a network of Tubes and Tracheae carry oxygen into the Bee's body.

• An Aorta in the Thorax pumps Blood, or Hemolymph, directly over the organs rather than through a system of vessels. Oxygen floats in the Hemolymph without the use of red blood cells, so the fluid is colourless instead of red. The Abdomen also holds a Tube-Like Digestive System that includes a Crop, or Honey Stomach, where the Bee holds nectar.

• A Bee's Abdomen has another Special Appendage - the Stinger,  which is a modified Ovipositor or Egg Depositor. This Stinger combines a Poison Sac with sharp Lancets,  which deliver the Venom that the Bee produces using its Venom gland. Many scientists believe that Bees inherited their Venom from their Wasp-like ancestors who used their Ovipositors to lay their eggs in the bodies of other Insects. Eventually, the substances that coated the Ovipositor became Venomous, which made it easier for Prehistoric Wasps to subdue prey. However, some Bees don't have Stingers. Ovipositors are Female Reproductive Organs, so Male Bees usually can't Sting. There are also several Species of Stingless Bees, which do not have Stingers at all.

• Several Honeybee Species have Barbed Stingers, which stick in the bodies of Mammals, pulling out part of the Bee's Abdomen when she flies away. As a result, the Bee dies. Bees with Barbed Stingers can often Sting other Insects without harming themselves. Queen Honeybees and Bees of many other species, including Bumblebees and many Solitary Bees, have Smooth Stingers and can Sting repeatedly.

• The Brain of a Bee has a collection of about 950,000 Neurons. These Neurons are specialized, and they communicate with specific neighbouring Neurons. This division of tasks is part of why a Bee's Brain, which is a fraction of the size of the Bee's head, can perform complex tasks that might ordinarily require a bigger Brain. A system of nerves allows the Brain to communicate with the rest of the body.

• The Hives that Honey Bees build are called Honey Combs or Bees wax. The Wax is generated due to the Special Glands in the Abdomen. Honey is stored in the Hexagonal Cells of The Beehive. The pollen is carried in a smooth, bristle-surrounded area on one segment of the hind leg. This is called as a Pollen Basket or Corbicula.

• Honeybees' wings stroke over 11,000 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.

Colour - Most Bees are Black and Yellow in colour but some have Red, Blue or Green bodies.

Weight - A Honey Bee Worker weighs about 90 milligrams. A Queen and a Drone are heavier, around 170 to 180 milligrams.

Length - Length of Bees vary according to species. Honey Bees measure about 3/4 of an inch in length. Leafcutter Bee Females can attain a length of 39 mm (1.5").

Geographical Range and Habitat

They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.

Behaviour

Bees live in groups called Colonies. Beehives are very crowded, with Ten to Sixty thousand in a Hive.

There are generally Three Ranks of Bees, each with an important job in the Hive.
 
Bee Ranking

Worker - These are the smallest Bees in the Colony and are Undeveloped Females. During the first two days of its life, a Worker Bee cleans its cell. When they are three days old they feed the Drones and Larvae. Workers have Glands that produce Wax. They shape the Wax into the Comb. During their last days in the Hive they guard the entrance. When the Worker Bee leaves the Hive, during its travels it collects water, nectar, and pollen. A Worker Bee has ultraviolet vision which allows it to see patterns on flower petals which attract the workers to them.
 
Queen - A Queen Bee is the one who lays all the eggs. For a Queen to be born, the Workers must feed the Larva, Royal Jelly. If a new Queen is born, the Old Queen will kill it or leave with half of the Hive Colony. Such an assembly of Bees is generally known as a Bee Swarm.
 
Drone - Drones are Male Bees and they have no Stingers. The Drones have big, strong wings. Their sole purpose is to mate with the queen. They make up 10% of the Hive Colony. They use their strong wings for the mating flight. After the mating flight, the Workers take care of the Drones. Before winter, the Workers bite the wings off the Drones, and kick them out of the Hive since they are of no more use. They are left to die. They may be shunned if the Colony is short on food.

Bees play an important role in the life of flowering plants. All fruits start out as flowers, but they don't turn into fruits unless they are pollinated. Without Bees many Species of plants will cease to exist.Bees always go to flowers to get nectar to make honey. When the Bees are on the flowers, pollen brushes up on them and sticks to them. Then, they fly to another plant and the process happens again. Only this time, some pollen from the first flower drops on to the pistil (female part) of the second flower. The pollen goes into the ovary where the ovules are stored, and fertilizes them. Soon the pistil grows into a pod or fruit.

When colony populations are high, the queen may move part of the colony to new harbourage. Bees swarm at this time, usually finding hollow trees to begin their new colony, but they occasionally work their way into building wall voids.

They are among the few insects that can control their body temperature. In cold weather, queens and workers can shiver their flight muscles to warm themselves, allowing them to fly and work at lower temperatures than most other insects. Their large size and heat-conserving hairy coats also help them stay warm. These features enable them to live in northern latitudes and alpine altitudes.

Bees see all colours except the colour Red. That and their sense of smell help them find the flowers they need to collect pollen.

Many Solitary Bees seal their nests after laying eggs and never see their young. Often, these Species lay eggs in the fall, the eggs hatch in the spring, but The Mother Bees do not survive the winter.

While a Female Solitary Bee lays only a few eggs in her lifetime, a Queen Honeybee lays thousands. She places one egg into each cell  in the brood area of the hive. The Queen Bee has control over whether she lays Male or Female eggs but she lays Male eggs in slightly larger cells. If she uses stored sperm to fertilize the egg first, the Larva that hatches is Female. If she leaves the egg unfertilized, the Larva that hatches is Male. This means that Female Bees inherit genes from their mothers and their fathers while Male Bees inherit only genes from their mothers.

Bees have an acute sense of smell, and they can remember and recognize patterns, such as the patterns of colours that are likely to be near good food. They can also recognize symmetry.

Bees can communicate to other Bees the distance, direction, quality, and quantity of a food source with a unique dance. When a Honey Bee returns to the Hive it gives out samples of the flower's nectar to its Hive mates. Then it performs a dance that identifies the distance, direction, quality, and quantity of the food supply.

The Round Dance indicates a food supply that is near the Hive. The Round Dance is used when the food source is less than 35 yards away. The Forager Bee turns in circles alternately to the left and to the right. The richer the food source, the longer and more vigorous the dance. The Round Dance does not communicate any specific direction. But the Forager Bee does provide the flowers' scent, which other Bees use to find the flowers.

The Waggle Dance indicates a food supply that is farther away. The Waggle Dance is used to communicate the location of food sources more than 35 yards away. The Dance consists of two loops with a straight run in the middle. The direction of the straight run determines the direction of the food source. The rate of looping and duration of buzzing indicate the distance to the food supply.

The direction of the straight run communicates the direction of the food in relation to the sun. The Honeycombs in the hive are vertical to the ground. If food lies in the same direction as the sun, the Foraging Bee dances straight up. If it lies in the opposite direction of the sun, the Bee dances straight down. If it is to the left, The Bee Dances at the appropriate angle to the left.

Original Bee studies by Professor Karl Von Frisch have shown that the faster the Bee's rate of looping, the closer the food supply. Research shows that the duration of buzzing during the straight run may be a better indicator of distance. The longer the Bee buzzes, the farther away the food source.

Foraging Bees regurgitate the nectar and pass it to Worker Bees in the hive. These Bees then gradually transform the nectar into honey by evaporating  most of the water from it. Nectar is as much as 70 percent water, while honey is only about 20 percent water. Bees get rid of the extra water by swallowing and regurgitating the nectar over and over. They also fan their wings over the filled cells of the honeycomb. This process retains lots of sugar and the plant's aromatic oils while adding enzymes from the Bees' mouths. The finished honey is thick, sticky and very sweet. It contains several types of sugar, including sucrose, laevulose and dextrose. Its flavour and colour depend on the flowers from which the Bees harvested their nectar. Orange blossom honey, for example, tastes and smells faintly of oranges.

Bees sting when an intruder, be it animal or human, comes too close to a nest, disturbs it, or physically harms a Bee. The threatened Bee will not only sting in defence, but also release an 'Alarm Pheromone' to attract other Bees, signalling them to join in the attack.

Diet - All most all Species survive on nectar collected from flowers. Stingless Bees also called Vulture Bees feed only on carrion.

Predators - Bees are favourites of the Bee-Eater Bird. Other common predators are Kingbirds, Mockingbirds, Bears, Dragonflies, Honey Badger, Honey Buzzard, Assassin Bugs, Spiders etc.

Reproduction

In nearly every Species, a Male Bee's only job is to Mate with a Female. Most Male Bees do not even have the structures necessary to make wax or carry pollen, so Males in social species cannot contribute to the daily work that goes on in the Hive. Usually, a Female Bee Mates with several Male Bees in mid air, gathering all of the sperm she will need in her lifetime, a few months for a Solitary Bee, or up to five years for a Honeybee. Mating typically happens at a Collective Mating Site. In some Species, including Honeybees, the Males die shortly after Mating because they leave their Endophallus (inner sac of penis) in the female's body, fatally injuring themselves in the process. In other Species, Males can mate with multiple Females. Since Females use sperm from several Males to fertilize their eggs, this gives the Male Bees a better chance to father young. After the Female Mates, she either retreats to a shelter for the winter or returns to her nest to lay eggs, depending on her Species. In Solitary Bees, the Female builds a nest, places food inside and lays an egg. The food may include a mix of pollen and nectar called Bee Bread. It may also include a form of honey.

In Folklore and Culture

• In Wales, a Bee buzzing around a sleeping child means the child will have a happy life and a virgin can always walk safely through a swarm of Bees.

• The Romans believed a swarm of Bees was bad luck and that they were divine creatures which originated directly from the Gods.

• The Hindu Gods - Vishnu, Krishna and Indra were referred to as 'Nectar Born Ones' (Madhava) and were often represented as Bees perched on a lotus flower.

• The Egyptian Sun God, Re was believed to have created Bees and humans from his tears. Burying the nobility in honey was a common practice in Egypt as a form of embalming the dead. The Egyptians also placed Bees and honey in tombs as offerings to spirits of the dead.

• Mead or honey wine is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in the world and was drunk in countries such as Ireland, Ethiopia, India, Germany and Greece. Because mead was believed to be the drink of immortality, Bees were legally protected in Ireland.

• A long believed myth about Bees is that they do not sting at night, which in fact is incorrect, they will sting at any time for protection.

• Bees are one of the few insects regularly used on advertisements, being used to illustrate honey and foods made with honey.

• In Indonesia  Bee Larva are eaten along with rice, after mixed with shredded coconut "meat", wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.

• A Cartoon based movie focussed around a Bee, has been popular in recent times. It is titled 'Bee Movie'.