After reading a ton of articles related to bees, and observing a few in the lab and the field, I can only described as an amazing insect. After being stung twice in my childhood, I learned to fear this buzzing insect. I would not get closer to one and if by any chance a bee decided to get close to me, I would run. The fear of experiencing a painful sting again kept me away from bees for years; the only proximity or connection I would have to bees was the love of their sweet honey.
Since I started taking this class, I have collected a few bumble bees and a few more honey bees. At first, I saw them as trophies; since I was able to collect them without being stung. But as soon as I looked at them under the microscope, I fell in love with the beauty of their bodies and bright colors. I have since then, learned a lot about the way they behave, live and function.
Bees are the number one pollinator in the world; which make them, perhaps, the most important. Let's take a look at the bee's anatomy. In the following image we can appreciate the complexity of the bee's body and organs. Like many other insects who belong to the order Hymenoptera, bees have six legs, four wings, large compound eyes, large probocis to drink liquids such as nectar, and three simple eyes or ocelli. The bee's body is compose of three parts, head, thorax, and abdomen; which is cover of millions of hairs (apoidea) that help the bee acquire and transport pollen.
Here are a few pictures I have taken in the lab that show their beauty as well as their dangerous and almost fatal stinger.
According to the website backyardbeekeeper.com bees collect in average 66 lbs of pollen a year, which they used not only to pollinate plants and crops, but to feed. As we can appreciate in the following images, bees carry pollen with them everywhere and all the time.
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This picture taken with the Laica Dissecting Microscope, shows the bee's head, eye, antenna, and a whole bunch of pollen all over the it.
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This close up of the Bee's eye shows the beautiful yellow and black color of the hairs coming out of the bees eye.
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On this image, we can see the structure of the Bee's eye more clearly.
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Another interesting part of the Bee's anatomy is its wings. In this picture we can appreciate the veins and hairs coming out of the bee's crystal clear wings.
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The dots or porous-like spots on the wing are the tiny hairs coming out of the wing.
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Pollen is vital both crops and Bees, that's why the bee carries it all over its body even on its foot.
When bees fly they produce static energy with their hairs and wings that causes the pollen from plants to literally jump into the bee. This assures that the bees will be able to pollinate plants and feed the colony.
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Close up of hairs shows their complexity
The stinger on a bee is like a double edge sword. Bees use their stinger to protect their colonies by attacking intruders with it. They insert the stinger into the intruder's body and deposit the poison they produce. Bees die immediately after stinging a person or animal because their bodies ripped apart when trying to detach themselves from their victim. The stinger itself is compose of two sides with barbs at the end. The barbs make the bee unable to detach itself from its victim without ripping itself apart. The stinger is protected by two sting sheaths and connected to a venom sac and venom bulb that undergo a series of contractions when the bee stings a victim. Some mammals like humans are allergic to the bees venom and can die if they are not treated on time.
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Bee's stinger and venom sac from howstuffworks.com
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This is a picture of the Bee's stinger. The stinger is about 3mm long, just big enough to make almost every mammal suffer.
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In this picture we can appreciate the poison inside of the poison bulb, the poison bag was removed accidentally while dissecting the bee.
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If you look closely you can appreciate the barbs of the stinger on the lower part. This beautiful amber like colored stinger has two sets of barbs on each side.
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Electron Microscope pictures
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Poison bulb with on a protecting sheath still attached.
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Stinger Barbs
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Starting from top to bottom, the barbs increase in length decrease in amount.
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The barbs on the stinger appear to be extremely sharp, and dangerous.
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What a great post on bees. I had no idea that they became charged when they flew. That is a pretty neat trick
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic post!! The images are beautiful! I learned a couple of things about bees that I did not know.
ReplyDeleteThe images are of really great quality & I love how you go from macro to micro. Great job :)
ReplyDeleteThe images are impressive, the stinger barbs are one of those things that once you see them it is easy to see every time. I am wondering how collecting the venom went.
ReplyDeleteYour images are amazing - particularly those of the barb! :)
ReplyDeleteHave you been able to dissect the bag where the venom is created?
Like Adam, I'm quite curious as to how the venom collection is going.