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Hypopharyngeal glands

Dissected hypopharyngeal glands of honey bee worker.


Salivary glands, side view

Side view of salivary glands (marked red) of honey bee worker (see also dissected salivary glands).

HGld - head salivary gland
Res - reservoir of thoracic salivary gland
slDct - common salivary duct
ThGld - thoracic salivary gland

Salivary glands

Dissected salivary glands (also called labial glands) of honey bee worker. After Snodgrass (1956, fig. 21cde) Anatomy of the honey bee,
, Ithaca, p.334, (1956)
[3], Cruz-Landim (1967) Estudo comparativo de algumas glândulas das abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e respectivas implicações evolutivas,
Arq. Zool.
, Volume 15, p.177–290, (1967)
[4]. (scale bar = 1 mm)

HGld - head salivary gland (also called postcerebral gland or cephalic salivary gland)
Res - reservoir of thoracic salivary gland
slDct - common salivary duct
ThGld - thoracic salivary gland


Honeybee deaths linked to seed insecticide exposure

"Dead bees collected near hive entrances during the spring sampling period were found to contain clothianidin as well, although whether exposure was oral (consuming pollen) or by contact (soil/planter dust) is unclear. We also detected the insecticide clothianidin in pollen collected by bees and stored in the hive." Multiple routes of pesticide exposure for honey bees living near agricultural fields,
PLoS ONE
, Volume 7, Number 1, p.e29268, (2012)
[5]

Mouthparts

Mouthparts of honey bee worker (posterior view). After Michener (1974, fig. 1.6) The social behavior of the bees: a comparative study,
, Cambridge, Mass., (1974)
[6]. The mouthparts are unfolded and spread apart. Most of the time they are folded behind the head and held together. See also mechanism of folding of the mouthparts.

Cd - cardo (plural cardines)
Ga - galea
Gls - glossa (tongue)
Lbl - labellum
LbPlp - labial palpus
Lr - lorum Anatomy of the honey bee,
, Ithaca, p.334, (1956)
[3], submentum The social behavior of the bees: a comparative study,
, Cambridge, Mass., (1974)
[6]
MxPlp - maxillary palpus
Pgl - paraglossa
Pmt - postmentum Anatomy of the honey bee,
, Ithaca, p.334, (1956)
[3], mentum The social behavior of the bees: a comparative study,
, Cambridge, Mass., (1974)
[6]
Prmt - prementum
St - stipes


Worker development

Development of honey bee worker. Numbers indicate day of development after egg laying. Worker larvae grow from 0.1 mg (after eclosion) to 159 mg (before capping) during 5.5 days The rate of growth of worker, drone and queen larvae of the honeybee, Apis Mellifera Linn.,
Journal of Economic Entomology
, Volume 23, Number 2, p.447–453, (1930)
[7]Growth rates of young queen and worker honeybee larvae,
J. Apic. Res.
, Volume 4, p.3-5, (1965)
[8].
See also Rate of growth and development time of africanized honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens and workers during ontogenetic development,
Braz J Morphol Sci
, Volume 23, p.325-332, (2006)
[9]Diversity in life history of queen and worker honey bees, Apis mellifera L.,
Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology
, Volume 18, p.145–149, (2015)
[10]

External anatomy

As in all insects, body of honey bee larva (left image) and adult insect (right image) can be divided into segments. The segments can be grouped in three body regions (tagmata): head (marked green), thorax (marked blue) and abdomen (marked red). Head consists of six segments which are visible at early gastrulation stage as transverse grooves Engrailed expression and body segmentation in the honeybee Apis mellifera,
Development Genes and Evolution
, Volume 198, Number 8, p.467–473, (1990)
[11]. The segments are also visible when stained with antibody raised against engrailed protein Engrailed expression and body segmentation in the honeybee Apis mellifera,
Development Genes and Evolution
, Volume 198, Number 8, p.467–473, (1990)
[11]. Thorax consists of three segments (labelled T1-T3) and abdomen ten segments (labelled A1-A10).

Social or solitary: It’s in bees’ genes

"The analysis did find significant differences in gene sequence between the eusocial and solitary bees. The researchers also saw patterns of genetic change unique to either the highly eusocial or primitively eusocial bees."Genes involved in convergent evolution of eusociality in bees,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
, Volume 108, Number 18, p.7472-7477 , (2011)
[12]