Every person, who at least once was in nature or in the garden on a warm summer day, must have heard an even, businesslike buzz among flowers and plants. This means that somewhere nearby a small honey bee flies by. The structure of her body is the topic of our material today.
Classification and benefits
According to the accepted classification, this insect belongs to the type of arthropods, order Hymenoptera. The closest relatives are wasps and ants. Habitat - fields, edges, gardens, meadows. Today, thanks to the activities of people, bees are distributed throughout the world. By breeding them, a person receives valuable products. And this is not only honey, but also other products: pollen, royal jelly, propolis, beeswax. All of them are of particular value and are widely used in folk and traditional medicine. Today, more than 20 thousand species of these insects are known to science. One of the most common is the honey bee.
General Features
Body lengthworker bees, those that we can see in nature - up to 16 millimeters. They do not live long - up to two months. The body length of the queen bee is 22 centimeters. The uterus lives up to 7 years! What is the structure of a bee? We usually recognize her by her furry body, girded with yellow and black stripes. The external structure of a bee of any kind, including honey bees, has some common features, which we will discuss in more detail. What are the characteristics of her body?
Skeleton
The structure of the body of a bee, like all insects, begins with the outer skeleton. That is, roughly speaking, the bee on the outside has a skin that is hard and rather complex. The skeleton serves both to attach and support the internal organs and muscles, and to protect the viscera from adverse external influences, shocks. Outside, the body is covered with various hairs. They differ both in form and purpose. Many of them perform the functions of the sense organs. Some are for purification. Further, the structure of the body of a bee is characterized by the presence of several parts connected movably. This is the head, chest, abdomen.
Head
This is a pretty solid box. It contains the sense organs and the nervous system of the insect. There are also eyes on the head. The bee has five of them. Two convex, complex, faceted, which are located on the sides of the head, on both sides. They seem to be made up of many small eyes. And simple eyes are placed on the crown (the number is three). With them, the bee, according to the observations of scientists, does not see very well. She canto distinguish only the contours of objects. But it is still necessary for better orientation in the area when a bee is flying.
The structure of the head continues with a pair of antennae. Each of them consists of segments and flagella. The worker bee has 11 segments in its antennae, which allows it to move freely in different directions. The organs of touch used by the bee are also located here.
The structure of the head of worker bees is different from the structure of the head of the queen or drone. So, the latter has a rounded head, while the working one has rather a triangular one.
In the lower part of the head there is a mouth opening and an upper lip, as well as chitinous upper jaws with powerful muscles. With the help of these devices, a bee can literally bite through a tree or a honeycomb, grab a mote to take it out of the hive, and bite someone else's bee. And on the back side of the oral cavity, the lower jaws and the lower lip are placed, forming a complex device - the proboscis. Concentrated around the tongue, they form an organ with which the bee sucks food: honey, nectar, water. The proboscis is a very important organ of the bee. With the help of it, the insect collects drops of nectar. In Russia, in bees, the length of this organ is from 5 to 7 mm. The longest-proboscis is the Caucasian bee. The structure of her proboscis is the same as that of the Central Russian, but the length reaches over 7 millimeters. Scientists associate this fact with the characteristics of plants growing in the Caucasus.
Chest
The structure of the honey bee continues the chest, which is connected to the head with a ring-chitin film. As a result of such a connection, it can move in different directions, which is extremely necessary for fruitful work on flowers and in hives. The pectoral cover of the chitinous skeleton includes four rings tightly connected to each other. The legs of the insect depart from these rings, membranous wings are built in here, which, by the way, are the most fragile organ of the bee. According to scientists, the main reason for the death of hard-working insects is their wear and tear. The thoracic region also contains strong muscles that cause wing movements.
Abdomen
In the abdomen, under a strong shell-skeleton made of chitin, there are the main internal organs of the bee: heart, intestines, respiratory and excretory, genitals. The abdomen consists of six to seven rings. The latter forms the anal anal ring. Each segment with its leading edge extends beyond the edge of the previous one. All together they are connected by a chitinous film, thin and elastic. As a result, the abdomen can be mobile and increase or decrease in volume. On the abdomen are also glands that secrete wax. At the end of the abdomen is an insect defense organ - a sting.
Legs: structural features
Honey bee, like many insects, has three pairs of legs, which consist of segments and are very mobile. They can rotate in different directions, attaching to a special coxa segment. Each limb ends with a claw. The legs of the insect are intended mainly for walking, for supporting the body, but they also have additional functions: cleaning the antennae and body, for example. When walking, a bee (in relation to the proportions of its body) can develop tremendous strength. Scientists have calculated that this insect is capable of pulling a load 20 times its own weight.
Cleaning the sensitive hairs on the bee's body is also important. After all, there are sensory organs responsible for the vital activity of the worker during the flight and collecting nectar. By clearing these organs, the bee receives more information. And she does this with the help of movable jointed legs that can reach polluted places.
