bees

Animals

2022

We explain everything about bees, their habitat, combs, reproduction and other characteristics. Also, differences with wasps.

Bees are among the most ecologically important species in the world.

What are bees?

Bees are a diverse set of flying insects, zoologically classified within the clade anthophila (from the Greek anthos, "Flower", and philos, "Like", that is, "flower lovers"). They are among the species most common and most ecologically important in the world.

Like their cousins, ants, bees are the most diverse insects and best adapted to all continents of the world, except Antarctica. Almost 20,000 species are known of them, of common traits and habits, the most popular of all being the ordinary bee, Apis mellifera, of distinctive colors black and yellow.

The curious social habits of bees and their ability to make honey have been of interest to the human being since ancient times. In fact, humanity has seen in them the symbol of industry, industry and community spirit. It is common to find them in children's stories, in poetic compositions or mythological traditions. In addition, in its rigid social structure the aristocracy was reflected at the time.

The breeding of bees in captivity is called apiculture, and it is carried out for commercial purposes for the sale of their honey, naturally sweet and endowed with antiseptic properties, as well as the wax that they are capable of secreting.

Its sting is also famous, endowed with varied levels of toxicity, particularly painful and capable of triggering severe reactions in the persons allergic

Characteristics of bees

Female bees have a stinger at the end of the abdomen.

In general, bees are characterized by the following:

  • They are animals arthropods, that is, with segmented bodies and articulated limbs, endowed with three pairs of legs, one pair of antennae and two pairs of membranous wings. Its body is covered with villi.
  • The body of bees usually measures between 2mm and 4 cm, depending on the species, and is made up of three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. At the end of the latter, the females possess a stinger. The upper extremities are adapted to allow cleaning of the wings, while the lower extremities are adapted to carry floral nectar.
  • Their large, compound eyes occupy almost the entire head, just below the antennae, which allow them to receive chemical, olfactory, sound and movement signals.
  • As a species they possess an enormous capacity for communication and information management. Through a “dance” performed with the body, they can indicate to each other how far or near a source of energy is. food. In addition, they are able to orient themselves by Sun, the incidence of solar rays and through the magnetic field land.
  • The bee society is strongly stratified. It is composed as a social pyramid at the top of which is the queen bee, the only one capable of laying eggs, and then comes the body of workers, and at the end the few non-working males, called drones. Queens live much longer than others, and can even reach 6 years.
  • Of all the known species of bees, only 7 are capable of producing honey. Each year, 1.6 tons of this product are generated in the West. For this, a single bee can visit more than 7,000 flowers daily. It takes four million visits to generate a kilo of honey.

Types of bees

There are eight families of bees, grouping all known species, which can vary greatly from each other. These families are:

  • Colletidae. Primitive and wasp-like bees, numbering about 3,000 species.
  • Adrenidae. Solitary and large bees, among which there are species of life parasite.
  • Halictidae. "Mining" bees, since they spend a large part of their lives underground, many of which are attracted by the sweat of the mammals.
  • Oxaeidae. Large, fast-flying bees, anatomically similar to those of the group Adrenidae.
  • Melittidae. Around 180 species of pollinating bees, typical of Africa and the northern hemisphere, small to moderate in size. They represent an evolutionary link between primitive and modern bees.
  • Megachilidae. Leaf and stem cutter bees, capable of building complex structures in the I usually to nest, using vegetable pieces cut by themselves. Unlike other bees, they collect pollen on their belly, rather than on their back legs.
  • Apidae. The largest group of all, which includes the common bees, stingless bees, bumblebees and others less known.

Bees and wasps

Wasps feed on other species of insects.

Despite the similarities that may exist between a wasp and a bee, they are two different types of animals, although evolutionarily related. That is, bees (just like ants) arose from certain wasps of the family crabronidae, in the early Cretaceous (about 100 million years ago).

However, they differ from wasps primarily in that they feed on floral nectar, rather than the meat of other insect species, as wasps still do today.

Habitat of bees

Ordinary bees are social animals, living in swarms. However, they are not the majority:

  • Solitary bees. This is how 75% of bee species live.
  • Parasitic bees. They represent 15%.
  • Honeycomb-dwelling bees. Only 10% live inside honeycombs, which are complex structures that they build themselves with mud, plant debris, or other materials, on top of trees, in building corners, or anywhere the colony feels safe from their predators.

Regarding their geographical distribution, the different species of bees are found practically all over the world, adapted to the most diverse climates, and it often happens that the crossing and hybridization between them, as happened in Brazil with the Africanized bee, produce aggressive and more dangerous variants.

Honeycombs

In the combs the bees deposit their larvae and also the honey.

A type of typical honey bee structure is called a honeycomb, made from clay and wax that worker bees can secrete through a set of specialized glands.

Inside, the combs are made up of small regular cells, inside which the bees deposit their larvae, and also the honey and pollen on which the hive feeds. In a special location is also the queen bee. Honeycombs have a shape and dimensions characteristic of the species of bees that inhabit them.

Bee feeding

In general, common bees feed on pollen and nectar that they extract from flowers, and from which they compose various types of food:

  • Royal jelly. It is the most nutritious form of honey, with which they feed the larvae and the queen bee.
  • Diluted honey or pollen. They constitute the food of the army of worker bees.

Reproduction of bees

Bee larvae undergo metamorphosis to emerge as adults.

The reproduction of bees is determined by their pyramidal structure, since the only bee capable of laying eggs is the queen bee. Therefore, it is cared for and protected by all the other worker bees.

To deposit the eggs, the queens must be fertilized by a drone, which is a male bee, the only form that exists within the swarm. The drones are unproductive, although they can collaborate in the defense of the honeycomb, and their role is restricted to copulation with the queen bee. Sometimes, after being fertilized, the queen will not require the male again for a long time.

Bee eggs are tiny and whitish. A limbless larva emerges from the eggs, which goes through different molts until finally becoming a chrysalis, fulfilling the circuit of a metamorphosis complete until emerging as an adult.

Social differentiation occurs from the larval stage: somehow the bees know which larvae will be queen bees and which will simply be workers. Thus, a new queen only emerges to found a new swarm, taking some of the workers with her, or to replace a deceased queen bee.

Importance of bees

Bees carry pollen from plants.

The ecological importance of bees cannot be stressed enough. They are the main pollinators of plant species in the world, that is, those in charge of distributing pollen from a plant to another, thus facilitating the sexual fertilization of plants and giving them genetic diversity.

This occurs when the bee approaches the flowers to sip nectar, and the pollen of the plant adheres to its body, part of which will reach another flower and allow the exchange of genetic material between the plants. Without the bees, this process could take significantly longer, although there are a few other species capable of helping with the same process, but none with the effectiveness of bees.

Apart from that, bees form the basis of the industry of honey, a food that humans can take advantage of in their diet and that is both nutritious and antiseptic.

Danger of extinction

Bees have many predators and are the victim of many parasites capable of infecting an entire honeycomb. Also, being so territorial, compete each other for available resources. However, the great adversary of bees is precisely the human being.

The massive use of pesticides Y chemical substances in agriculture it is directly responsible for the 30% decrease in bee populations in the United States, for example, and similar situations occur around the globe.

The practice of modern beekeeping has also replaced the floral search of bees with sweet and synthetic drinks, making the animals prefer to go to an easy and close source of sugars, than to the nectar produced in small quantities by the flowers.

All this panorama promises future ecological disasters and loss of diversity. Bees are easily one of the most important species in the world. ecosystem global, and are currently in danger of extinction everywhere.

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