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Honey capping

Honey bee comb with honey at various stages of capping.

Low Doses of Pesticides Put Honey Bees at Risk

"This study shows that interaction between Nosema disease and insecticides represents a significant additional risk for bee populations, and could possibly explain certain cases of excess mortality. This work also finds that insecticide doses considered to be non-lethal have a lethal toxic potential for organisms that are infested with parasites and therefore vulnerable." Exposure to Sublethal Doses of Fipronil and Thiacloprid Highly Increases Mortality of Honeybees Previously Infected by Nosema ceranae,
PloS one
, Volume 6, Number 6, p.e21550, (2011)
[1]

Nasonov gland

Nasonov gland (marked red) of honey bee worker. After Jacobs (1925, fig. 12a, 21b) Das Duftorgan von Apis mellifica und ähnliche Hautdrüsenorgane sozialer und solitärer Apiden,
Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere
, Volume 3, p.1-80, (1924)
[2], Snodgras (1956, fig. 57c) Anatomy of the honey bee,
, Ithaca, p.334, (1956)
[3].
In the upper image the gland is exposed; in the lower image the gland is hidden between tergites.


Irregular cells

Drone comb with irregular cells. Honey bee workers started to build the comb in two places. There are irregular cells where the two combs met. The comb building is not planed or centrally controlled. When two pieces of comb do not fit together workers improvise to connect them.

Worker cooling brood

Honey bee worker cooling brood using water droplets. After Park (1925) The storing and ripening of honey by honeybees,
J. Econ. Entomol.
, Volume 18, p.405-410, (1925)
[4].

Vibration signal

Vibration signal performed by worker on the left (red) on worker on the right (black). After Seeley (1995, fig. 6.3) The wisdom of the hive: the social physiology of honey bee colonies,
, Cambridge, p.295, (1995)
[5].


The vibration signal (also called "shaking signal") consists of a worker rapidly vibrating its body dorso-ventrally for one to two seconds while grasping a recipient
with its forelegs. The recipient can be a worker Factors influencing the selection of recipients by workers performing vibration signals in colonies of the honeybee, Apis mellifera,
Animal behaviour
, Volume 63, Number 2, p.361–367, (2002)
[6], queen Age and behavior of honey bees, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), that perform vibration signals on queens and queen cells,
Ethology
, Volume 104, Number 6, p.475–485, (1998)
[7], drone Communication signals used in worker–drone interactions in the honeybee, Apis mellifera,
Animal Behaviour
, Volume 78, Number 2, p.247–254, (2009)
[8] or queen cell Factors influencing the selection of recipients by workers performing vibration signals in colonies of the honeybee, Apis mellifera,
Animal behaviour
, Volume 63, Number 2, p.361–367, (2002)
[6].

Cubital index

Part of fore wing of honey bee worker used for measurements of cubital index. (scale bar = 1 mm)


The cubital index was used, mainly by beekeepers, to discriminate honey bee subspecies. The discrimination using cubital index is relatively imprecise because it is based on measurements of only two distances The limitations of biometric control on pure race breeding in Apis mellifera,
Journal of Apicultural Research
, Volume 30, Number 2, p.54–59, (1991)
[9]Biometrical control of breeding,
Journal of Apicultural Research
, Volume 30, Issue 2, Number 2, p.113-114, (1991)
[10]. More precise methods of subspecies discrimination require large number of measurements Biogeography and taxonomy of honeybees,
, Berlin, (1988)
[11]Using geometric morphometrics and standard morphometry to discriminate three honeybee subspecies,
Apidologie
, Volume 39, Number 5, p.558–563, (2008)
[12].

How Do Honeybees Control Their Flight Speed to Avoid Obstacles?

"Bees have been shown to adjust their speed according to obstacle proximity, whether such obstacles are in the horizontal or vertical plane. They achieve this through perceived optic flow, especially from overhead." Honeybees' speed depends on dorsal as well as lateral, ventral and frontal optic flows,
PloS one
, Volume 6, Number 5, p.e19486, (2011)
[13]

Worker with sting exposed

When alarmed honey bee worker can expose its sting and spread alarm pheromones by fanning its wings. After Maschwitz (1964, fig. 6b) Gefahrenalarmstoffe und Gefahrenalarmierung bei sozialen Hymenopteren,
Z. vergl. Physiol.
, Volume 47, p.596-655, (1964)
[14].