Honey bee presentation

1. Honey BEE
By- Sanju Sah
St. Xavier’s college, Maitighar, Kathmandu
Department of Microbiology

2. Classification:
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Arthropoda
Class : Insecta
Order : Hymenoptera
Family : Apidae
Genus : Apis

3. Social insects
◼ Social insect, any of numerous species of insects
that live in colonies and manifest three
characteristics: group integration, division of
labor, and overlap of generations.
◼ Social insects are best exemplified by
all termites and ants and by various bees and
wasps

4. Advantages of Social Behavior in
Insects
◼ Social insects gain several advantages over their
solitary cousins.
◼ Social insects work together to find food and other
resources and to communicate their findings to
others in the community. They can mount a
vigorous defense of their home and resources when
under attack.
◼ Social insects also can outcompete other insects,
and even larger animals, for territory and food.
They can quickly construct a shelter, and expand it
as needed, and they can divide chores in a manner
that ensures everything gets done expeditiously.

5. Examples of social insects :
◼Honey bee
◼Wasp
◼Termites
◼Ants

6. Honey bee
◼ Honey bees are the only surviving group
of bees from the Apini tribe, which is
under the Apis genus.
◼ They are known for producing and
storing honey, or liquefied sugar, as well
as building impressively large nests
using wax secreted by workers in a
particular colony.
◼ The honey bee is one member of the
insect class Insecta. These insects are
members of the subfamily Apinae,
which produce and store liquefied sugar,
otherwise known as honey.

8. •Honey bees measure about 15 mm
long and are light brown in color.
•Honey bees are usually oval-shaped
creatures with golden-yellow colors
and brown bands.
•Although the body color of honey
bees varies between species and some
honey bees have predominantly black
bodies, almost all honey bees have
varying dark-to-light striations.

9. ◼ These light and dark stripes serve a
purpose for the survival of the honey bee:
unlike other species that hide when they
sense predators close by, the brightly
colored bodies of the honey bee act as a
warning to predators or honey robbers of
the honey bees’ ability to sting.

11. Distribution
◼ Honey bees species are found worldwide
and can be seen in many different
locations, including Europe and the
United States.
◼ They are most visible in summer and
late spring.

12. Types of honey bees in a hive
There are different types of bees in a honey bee
hive: Worker, Drone and Queen. Each has its
own important roles and performs specific
duties in a bee colony.
1. Queen
2. Workers
3. Drone

13. 1. Queen bee
1. She can be recognized by her
abdomen, which is usually smooth
and elongated, extending well
beyond her folded wings.
2. Her function in the hive is one of
production. She is normally the
only reproductive female in the
colony.
3. At the height of her productivity,
the queen could lay as many as
2000 eggs each day.
4. A queen bee can live for up to five
years, but her period of usefulness
rarely exceeds two or three years.

14. ◼ Many beekeepers re-queen their colonies
every year or two. Older queens are often
superseded (replaced) by the workers without
any assistance of the beekeeper.
◼ Good quality queens can be reared by an
experienced beekeeper.

15. ◼Queen bees also produce a pheromone
known as queen substance.
◼This mixture of chemicals is passed
individually from bee to bee throughout the
entire hive as they share food.
◼The presence of this pheromone also inhibits
the development of the workers' ovaries.

16. 2. Workers
◼ Workers are the smallest of the bee castes, but
are by far the most numerous.
◼ All workers are female, and normally incapable
of reproduction.
◼ They are unable to mate, but in a hopelessly
queenless colony, workers may begin to lay
unfertilized eggs, which develop into drones.
◼ Workers do all of the necessary tasks within a
colony including:

17. 1. They secrete the wax used in the hive, and form it into
honeycombs.
2. They forage for all of the nectar and pollen brought
into the hive, and transform the nectar into honey.
3. They produce royal jelly to feed to the queen and
young larvae.
4. They also tend to the needs of the larvae and They cap
the cells of mature larvae for pupation and remove
debris and dead bees from the hive.
5. Worker bees defend the hive against intruders and
maintain optimal conditions by heating, cooling and
ventilating the hive.

18. ◼ Workers have well-developed compound eyes on
the sides of their heads, and three simple eyes
(ocelli) at the vertex.
◼ Their tongue is well developed and elongated for
taking up nectar from flowers.
◼ Workers reared in the spring and early summer
tend to live for five to six weeks.

19. 3. Drone
◼ Drones are the male honey bees.
◼ The only function of a drone is to fertilize a young
queen bee.
◼ They are visibly larger and stouter than workers.
◼ They possess large distinctive eyes that meet on the
top of their heads, and have antennae slightly longer
than the workers or queen.
◼ Their mouth parts are generally reduced.
◼ Drones develop from unfertilized eggs, and drone cells
are visibly larger than those of workers.
◼ Drones do not tend the brood, produce wax, or collect
pollen or nectar. They will feed themselves directly
from honey cells in the hive, or beg food from worker
bees.

20. ◼ Their day is typically divided between periods of
eating and resting, and patrolling mating sites
known as drone congregation areas
◼ A colony that has lost its queen may develop
laying workers, who can produce only drones.
When this occurs, the colony is effectively
doomed.