Each person, at least once in nature or in the garden on a warm summer day, must have heard an even business buzz among flowers and plants. This means that somewhere near a small honey-working worker flies - a bee. The structure of her body is the theme of our material today.
Classification and Benefits
According to the accepted classification, this insect belongs to the type of arthropods, the order Hymenoptera. The next of kin are wasps and ants. Habitat - fields, edges, gardens, meadows. Today, thanks to the activities of people, bees are distributed around the world. Pursuing their breeding, 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, science knows more than 20 thousand species of these insects. One of the most common is a honey bee.
General characteristics
The body length of the working bees, those that we can see in nature, is 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? Usually we recognize her by her shaggy little body encircled by yellow and black stripes. The external structure of a bee of any species, including honey, has some common features, which we will talk about in more detail. What are the characteristic features of her body?
Skeleton
The structure of the body of a bee, like all insects, begins with the outer skeleton. That is, roughly speaking, a bee from the outside has a skin that is solid and rather complicated. The skeleton serves both for attaching, supporting internal organs and muscles, and for protecting the viscera from adverse external influences, impacts. Outside, the body is covered with various hairs. They differ in form and purpose. Many of them perform the functions of the senses. Some serve to cleanse. 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 sensory organs and the nervous system of the insect. The eyes are located on the head. The bee has five. Two convex, complex, facet, which are located on the sides of the head, on both sides. They consist, as it were, of many small eyes. And simple eyes are placed on the crown (number - three). According to scientists, the bee sees them not very well. She can distinguish only the contours of objects. But it is still necessary for better orientation on the ground when a bee flies.
The structure of the head continues with a pair of antennae. Each of them consists of segments and flagella. The working bee has 11 segments in the antennae, which allows it to move in different directions quite freely. There are also the sense of touch used by the bee.
The structure of the head in working bees is different from the structure of the head of the uterus or drone. So, the latter has a rounded head, and the worker has a rather triangular head.
In the lower part of the head is the mouth opening and upper lip, as well as chitinous upper jaws with powerful muscles. With the help of these devices, a bee can literally bite a tree or a honeycomb, grab a speck to remove from a hive, bite someone else's bee. And from the back of the mouth are placed the lower jaw and lower lip, forming a complex device - the proboscis. Concentrated around the tongue, they form the organ by which the bee absorbs food: honey, nectar, water. The proboscis is a very important organ of the bee. With it, the insect collects drops of nectar. In Russia, the length of this organ in bees is from 5 to 7 mm. The longest proboscis is the Caucasian bee. The structure of her proboscis is the same as that of Central Russian, but the length reaches more than 7 millimeters. Scientists attribute this fact to 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-film of chitin. As a result of such a connection, it can move in different directions, which is extremely necessary for fruitful work on flowers and in beehives. The chest of the chitinous skeleton includes four rings tightly interconnected. The legs of the insect extend 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 hardworking insects is their wear. Strong muscles are also located in the thoracic region, causing the movement of the wings.
Abdomen
In the abdomen, under a strong shell-skeleton of chitin, 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 the 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 glands that secrete wax. At the end of the abdomen is an insect protection organ - a sting.
Legs: structural features
The honey bee, like many insects, has three pairs of legs, which are composed of segments and are very mobile. They can rotate in different directions, attaching to a special joint-basin. 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 power. Scientists have estimated that this insect is able to carry a load of 20 times its own weight.
Cleaning sensitive hairs on the bee's body is also important. After all, there are the sensory organs responsible for the vital functions of the working woman during the flight and collection of nectar. By cleansing these organs, the bee receives more information. And she does this with the help of movable jointed legs that can reach contaminated places.