THE ANATOMY OF BEES Allen Perkins Sr. FED 529 Computer-Based Instructional Technology Allen Perkins Sr. FED 529 Computer-Based Instructional Technology

BEE ANATOMY Head - contains eyes, antennae, and feeding structures. Thorax - contains wings, legs, and muscles involved in movement Abdomen - has seven segments and contains female reproductive organs in the queen, male reproductive organs in the drone, and the stinger in both workers and queen.

BEE SOCIAL STRUCTURE The HONEY BEE community consists of three structurally different forms— THE QUEEN (reproductive female), THE WORKER (sterile female). THE DRONE (male)

HONEY CREATION Honeybees use nectar to make honey. They use their long, tubelike tongues like straws to suck the nectar out of the flowers and they store it in their "honey stomachs". The honeybees return to the hive and pass the nectar onto other worker bees. These bees suck the nectar from the honeybee's stomach through their mouth These "house bees" "chew" the nectar for about half an hour. During this time, enzymes are breaking the complex sugars in the nectar into simple sugars so that it is both more digestible for the bees and less likely to be attacked by bacteria while it is stored within the hive.

POLLINATION Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred from the anthers of flowers, the male element, to the stigma, or female element, of the same flower. This transfer precedes fertilization, in which the pollen tubes grow down the stigma from the implanted pollen grains to the ovary. Cell nuclei from the pollen grain and the ovary then fuse to begin the process of ovulation.

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