AMAZING BEES

Hares Tawan Alab

 The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is
derived from the Ancient Greek (hymen): membrane and
(pteron): wing.
 The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a
series of hooks called hamuli.
 Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting
eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places.
 The ovipositor is often modified into a stinger.
The young develop through complete metamorphosis —
that is, they have a worm-like larval stage and an inactive
pupal stage before they mature (holometabolism).
Herbivores, predators, parasitoid, hyperparasitoid
 CLASSIFICATION
 Symphyta
 The suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies, horntails,
and parasitic wood wasps.
 They have an unconstricted junction between the thorax
and abdomen.
 The larvae are herbivorous free-living eruciforms, with three
pairs of true legs, prolegs (on every segment, unlike
Lepidoptera) and ocelli.

 Apocrita
 The wasps, bees, and ants together make up the
suborder Apocrita, characterized by a constriction between
the first and second abdominal segments called a wasp-
waist (petiole), also involving the fusion of the first
abdominal segment to the thorax.
 Also, the larvae of all Apocrita do not have legs, prolegs, or
ocelli.
BEEZZZZ
BEE’S BODY
4 wings 6 legs

2 antennae

head
stinger

abdomen

thorax
Scientific classification: honey bees
order Hymenoptera
family Apidae
genus Apis

European honey bee-Apis mellifera

Indian honey bee-Apis cerana,

Dwarf honey bee-Apis florea,
Andreniform dwarf honey bee-Apis andreniformis,
Giant honey bee-Apis dorsata,
Italian race of the European honey bee is Apis mellifera
ligustica,
Carniolan race is Apis mellifera carnica, Caucasian race-
Apis mellifera caucasia.
Growth stages of honeybee
 Developmental
Days Weight Length Food source
state
1 egg 0.132 mg 1.2mm yolk
2 egg not listed yolk
3 egg 0.09 mg yolk
4 larva not listed Royal jelly
5 larva 3.4 mg Royal jelly

Royal jelly/honey
6 larva 33.3 mg and pollen (bee
bread)

honey and pollen

7 larva 100.1 mg
(bee bread)

honey and pollen

8 larva 134.5 mg
(bee bread)

honey and pollen

9 larva 155.2 mg
(bee bread)
MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEES
WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD A HIVE.
©abcteach.com
BEES’ FAMILY
Bees live in families
of thousands!

QUEEN DRONE WORKER

THE QUEEN CAN LAY
1500-2000 EGGS A DAY!

Drones mate the

queen to produce
eggs.

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Worker Bees

Collect pollen and nectar

Turn nectar into honey
Build honeycombs
Take care of eggs
Take care of larvae
Feed the queen
Defend the hive
….much more!
BUILDERS
(HONEYCOMB)(HIVE)

Forager

House bees
BEES DANCE TO COMMUNICATE.

What kind of dance was

that??? ©abcteach.com
Honey Bee:
Cues

Waggle Dance

Round dance (near) and waggle

She runs down to tell them
to fly away from the sun.
The number of runs in a
given time indicates the
distance.
The angle at which she The drawings do not
runs on the wagging show that the scout is
part of the dance gives surrounded by
the angle of the food workers who follow
 Shaking Signal

The shaking signal or dance (dorso-

ventral abdominal vibration) of the
foraging is often made when foraging
resumes after several days of bad
weather.
 Not all bees sting, male bees cannot.

 The average adult can withstand more than

1000 stings, although 500 stings could kill a
child.

 A bee stinger contains different toxins.

 Onions, toothpaste and lemons are all

believed to relieve stings.
 Honey bees can sting predators such as other
insects repeatedly. However, worker honey bees
have barbed stings, causing the stinger to get
lodged in the skin of mammals (including
humans). This is fatal to the honey bee when
they try to pull away from the victim, and the
bee will die after the stinging incident.

 Bee stings or apitherapy can reduce arthritis

symptoms.
 Bees are trichromatic – just like humans. However,
humans base their colour vision on the colours red,
green and blue, where as bees base their colour
vision on blue, green and UV. Bees cannot see red,
but visit red flowers because they are able to see the
UV markings on the petals.

 Bees are important indicators for the health of the

environment. When something is wrong with our
bees, something is wrong in the environment!
IMPORTANCE OF BEES

a. Pollinator
b. Food
c. Medicine
d. Cosmetics
e. Balance in nature
BEES ARE BUILT FOR
COLLECTING HONEY.

• special stomach
• hollow tongue
• stinger
• enzymes

©abcteach.com
WHAT TYPE OF CONDITIONS IS BEE VENOM
USED TO TREAT?
 Bee venom simulates the release of cortisone
(cortisol) and is therefore effective in the
treatment of rheumatic diseases, especially
arthritis and multiple sclerosis (MS). It can
be applied directly or by intramuscular
injections.

 Applying the venom topically can provide a

long-lasting effect and can offer significant
benefits in arthritic and rheumatic
conditions.
A
A HONEYBEE’S
HONEYBEE’S BRAIN
BRAIN
COMPARED
COMPARED TO
TO AA SUPER
SUPER
COMPUTER
COMPUTER
BEE COMPUTER
Size Tiny Large
Speed 1 Trillion/Sec 6 Billion/Sec (NASA Cray Y-MP)
Energy Consumption 10 Microwatts Many Kilowatts (107 or more)

Cost Cheap Lots - $48 million

Maintenance Personnel None - Self Healing Many
Weight Not Much 2,300 lbs w/ cooling system
Conclusions Evolved? Designed
THE BEE ATTACK!!!
 An extremely aggressive Africanized bee colony may attack any
'threat' within 100 ft. and pursue for up to one-fourth of a mile.
They can stay angry for days after being disturbed. If one bee
stings, it releases an alarm that smells like bananas. This
pheromone causes the other bees to become agitated and sting.

Generally, Africanized bees attack:

 only when the colony is threatened

 when loud noises, strong odors or fragrances, shiny jewelry, and
dark clothes are perceived as threats
 the face and ankles
WHEN YOUR ATTACKED??

 Africanized bees are slow fliers and most healthy

people can out run them.
 Run away in a straight line, protecting your face.
Avoid other people, or they too will be attacked.
 Do not try and hide underwater. The Africanized
bee swarm will wait for you to surface.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

European Honey Bees Africanized Bees

 Pollinate flowers • More aggressive
and crops • Attack in larger
 Calmed by smoke groups
 Swarm only when • Make less honey
crowded • Make less wax
• Hate high pitched
sounds
• Swarm more often
WHAT IS BEE VENOM?
 Bee venom is a complex composition of
enzymes, proteins and amino acids. It is a
colorless clear liquid, with a sweet taste and a
little bitter. It is soluble in water, insoluble in
alcohol and ammonium sulphate. If is comes in
contact with air, it forms, opaque or grayish-
white crystals.
 SO IF YOU ARE STUNG!!!

Seek medical attention. Some people are allergic to bee

stings causing anaphylactic shock. Since Africanized
bees attack and sting in great numbers, it is possible
that an allergic response may be triggered.
SWARMING

 When the beehive is overpopulated,

 Too much warm or cold weather.
 Only one queen bee will rule.

 If you are in the path of a swarm of

Africanized Bees, you have a
seventy-five percent chance of a
deadly attack.
 HONEY BEES
 Family: Apidae

 Honey bees are classed as ‘social’ bees

 A typical honey bee colony may have around 50,000 workers.

 The queen honey bee is about twice the length of a worker. All worker bees are female.

 Only female honey bees sting, the males do not.

 Honey bees communicate through pheromones passed on through feeding. This is called

‘trophallaxis’

 Drones (male honey bees) die after mating

 The honey bee is the only insect that produces a
food eaten by man.

 Worldwide there are 10 types of honey bee, and

one hybrid – the Africanized bee known as “killer
bees’’

 They perform a dance called “waggle dance” to

inform the rest of the workers about the location,
quantity and quality of nectar. In describing the
location, the honey bee even takes into
consideration the angle of the sun!
LEAFCUTTER BEES
 Family: Megachilidae

 These types of bees are solitary bees. With

solitary bees, usually, a single female mates,
then constructs a nest alone, and provides for
the egg cells that will become larvae.

 They cut away a piece of leaf for constructing

its egg cells. Note, that leafcutter bees will in
no way harm the plant from which it has
removed the segment of leaf.
 In research, they discovered that about 150
of these little bees working in greenhouses
(or similar) can provide the pollination
service of 3,000 honeybees!

 They are ‘cavity nesting’. This means they

like to make their nests in ready-made
cavities or in soft rotting wood that can be
‘excavated’.
How Do They Differ From Honey Bees?

 Honey bees, like bumblebees, collect pollen in

their pollen baskets or ‘corbicula’ on the hind
legs, then transport it back to the hive or nest.
 Leafcutter bees do not have pollen baskets on
their hind legs. Instead, they collect pollen on
the underside of their abdomens.
BUMBLEBEES
 Yellow-faced or plasterer bees.
 Unlike a honey bee's stinger a bumble bee's stinger
lacks barbs, so they can sting more than once.
 Bumble bees are increasingly cultured for
agricultural use as pollinators because they can
pollinate plant species that other pollinators cannot
by using a technique known as buzz pollination.
For example, bumble bee colonies are often placed
in greenhouse tomato production, because the
frequency of buzzing that a bumble bee exhibits
effectively releases tomato pollen.
KILLER BEES
 Africanized honey bees

 They attack humans and other animals, are a hybrid

between the African honeybee and wild bees.
 The killer bee colony may attack up to a quarter of a mile
away from the hive.

 In comparison to domestic honeybees, killer bees are

inefficient pollinators and produce limited quantities of
honey.

 They pose an agricultural threat by interfering with the

pollination of crops by domestic bees.