The honey bee has a marvelous body. it has a head, a thorax which is the middle, and a abdominal section. It also has other smaller parts as follows:
1. Compound eyes – bees have compound eyes, which allows them to have a wider field of vision (which is perfect when they are searching for wild flower patches/beds).
Their eyes are not only are wide but also have a special kind of power through ultra violet rays. This helps them to know exactly how to go back to their places and mark places of good honey sources for their next hunt.
2. Simple eyes – in addition to having a pair of compound eyes, bees also have three individual simple eyes or ‘ocelli’. These primitive eyes are used primarily to measure the amount of light present in a particular area, which helps the bee navigate unfamiliar terrain.
3. Antenna – to detect scents of potential food sources (and predators), bees use their pair of antenna. The antenna has two main functions when a bee is out searching for pollen and nectar.
The antenna functions two ways to inform the presence of food immediately. They also tell them other locations for future reference. They pick this bit of information form the air.
4. The mandible or the jaw of the bee has several important functions:
a Shape the cells in the hive through cutting and shaving to bring about strong and same size cells.
b. They are the parts through which bees eat pollen and honey
c. Helps the bees in bringing water into the cells for many uses as well as for their self hydration
d. Mandibles help feed the baby larvae in cells of the honeycomb. The worker bees have to feed the queen as well since she is busy without break laying the eggs on the cells.
e. A bee’s mandibles are also used for grooming and removing parasites that may have attached themselves to the bee’s body.
f. Mandible of a bee is a formidable weapon for a fight during the time invaders like wasps and other creature enter or even when a bee form other colony invades.
5. Proboscis – a bee’s proboscis is used mainly for drinking water and collecting nectar, which is then stored in the bee’s body until it reaches the hive, where it deposits the nectar in cells.
Watering and fanning are two of the process that bees have to do on their fresh deposits of nectar to initialize the curing process of the honey. Proboscis also help in exchange of food between drones or other bees.
Want to find out more about beekeeping, then visit Robert Russell’s site on how to choose the best beekeeping guide for your needs.
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