Honey bees are amazing insects and have amazing and interesting little bodies. There are six main parts of the honey bee’s anatomy (her body) that I’m going to cover here. They are easy to remember if you count from one to six.
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| A honey bee stinger |
One Stinger:
Honey bees have one STINGER and can only sting one time, and then they die. Unlike
other stinging insects (such as wasps) that have smoother stingers, the honey
bees stinger has tiny barbs that are like hooks and get caught in what they are
stinging. The bee tries to pull her stinger out but those barbs won’t budge and
instead her stinger, a poison sack, and some of her intestines are ripped from
her body. She cannot live without these so she flies off and dies. The little
poison sac attached to the stinger will continue to pump venom until the
stinger is removed Watch THIS video to see what happens when a bee stings.
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| Full pollen baskets on the bees back legs |
Two Pollen Baskets:
The worker bees have two POLLEN BASKETS located on their back legs. These
baskets are similar to the pockets you may have in your jeans, but on the bees
they are made up of tiny hairs. Their body gets covered in pollen while they’re
on flowers and they use special combs on their front legs to brush the pollen
from their body into the pollen baskets. Then they bring that pollen back to
their beehive where the bees will use it for food.
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| A is the head, B is the thorax, C is the Abdomen |
Three Main Body Parts;
Head, Thorax, Abdomen: Honey bees
have three main body parts, the head, thorax, and abdomen. On her HEAD the
honey bee has two antennas which she uses to smell and touch. She also
has
mandibles which are part of her mouth. She uses her mandibles to chew. The
worker bees also have special glands inside their head that make food for the
baby bees. The THORAX is where the wings attach to, and her ABDOMEN is where her
digestive tract (stomach), heart, and stinger are. There are also wax glands on
the bottom of her abdomen that make tiny flakes of beeswax. |
| Two wings hooking together for flight |
Four Wings: Honey
bees can use their WINGS to fly about 15-20 miles per hour and their wings flap
over 200 times per second! Sometimes it looks like they only have two
wings and that is because they hook their wings together when they are in
flight. Bees also use their wings to cool the hive down when it gets hot in the
summertime by fanning and beating their wings very fast.
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| The bees 5 eyes |
Five Eyes: Honey
bees have two large compound EYES on either side of their head, and three tiny
eyes on the top of their head. The honey bee’s two compound eyes are special
because they allow her to see different colors and markings on flowers that we
cannot see. They can also see ultra violet light, which we cannot see. A flower
that looks white to us may actually look blue-green to a bee! The three eyes on
top of the bees head are used to help her see in the dark, because it’s dark
inside the beehive.
Six Legs: Having
six LEGS make honey bees insects! Did you know that honey bees are actually the
only insects that make food for humans? That food is honey of course! On her
front pair of legs she has combs which she uses to brush the hair on her body,
and remember, on her back set of legs she has two pollen baskets. Honey bees
are also able to walk on many different kinds of surfaces because they have
little hooks on their feet to grip rough surfaces, and pads that help them walk
on smooth surfaces like glass. Have you ever heard the expression “it’s the bees
knees”? Well, guess what, bees DO have knees!
Next time you see a honey bee, count to six and see if you
can remember these six things about her anatomy!
