Among the most familiar insects to people we find honey bees, a large group of flying insects closely related to ants and wasps. There are more than 20,000 bee species and are found all over the world except in Antarctica.
Physical characteristics :
                  In general  (Apis mellifera) are red-brown in color with black bands and orange-yellow rings on the abdomen.
They have a lot of hair on the chest and less on the abdomen. In the hind legs there are "pockets" for collecting pollen. The legs are mostly dark brown-black.

There are two female castes: worker bees, which are sterile and smaller (they measure 10-15 mm when they are adults) and queen bees, which are fertile and larger (they measure 18-20 mm at the adult stage). The males, called drones, reach 15-17 mm when fully developed.

Although smaller, worker bees have longer wings than drones. Both female castes have a sting formed by modified ovipositorial structures. In worker bees the stinger is toothed and tears away from the body when used. In both castes, the stinger is supplied with poison from the glands in the abdomen. Males have much larger eyes than females, probably to help locate queen bees during mating flights.

There are currently 26 recognized honey bee subspecies, which differ in morphology and molecular characteristics. Some subspecies have the ability to tolerate warmer or colder climates, others may also vary in their defensive behavior, the length of the tongue, the wingspan and the coloring. Another variable feature is represented by the pattern made up of black stripes on the abdomen: some are darker while others have a greater mix of light and dark stripes.

Are bees partially endothermic?
      They can heat their bodies and the temperature in their hive by making the muscles dedicated to flight work.

Anatomical features:



      1. Head :
           The head of honey bees, when viewed from the front, has a triangular shape. The two antennas rise from the center close to each other.
The bee has two composite eyes and three simple eyes, also located on the head. The bee uses its proboscis, or a long hairy tongue, to feed on liquids and its jaws to eat pollen and work the wax in the construction of the honeycomb.

     2. Antenna :

The shape of the antennae in insects varies according to their function. In male moths these organs appear to be covered with feathers, in cockroaches they are elongated, in dragonflies they are short and have a bristly appearance, while those of termites appear to be composed of beads.

In honeybees, segmented antennae are important sensory organs. They are able to move freely, as their bases are located in small cavities on the head. Each of the antennas is connected to the brain by a large double nerve, necessary to receive all the fundamental sensory inputs. The small sensory hairs present on each antenna are sensitive to the stimuli of touch and smell.

    3. Eyes :
Honey bees and humans don't see things the same way. Although bees perceive a rather wide range of colors, they can only distinguish between six main color categories, including yellow, blue-green, blue, purple, ultraviolet and also a color known as "bee blue", a mixture of yellow and ultraviolet. Bees cannot see red. Color recognition is not equally good across the range: it turns out to be better in blue-green, purple and bee blue.

Like most insects, bees have compound eyes that are made up of thousands of tiny lenses called facets. Scientists think that every facet of a compound eye acquires a small part of the insect's overall vision. The brain then takes every single image and creates a large mosaic one. This image is similar to that produced on a television screen, where the image is essentially a grid made up of points of light.

    4. Trunck :
The honey bee's trunk is simply a long, slender hairy tongue, which acts like a straw to bring liquid food (nectar, honey and water) to the mouth. When in use, the tongue quickly moves back and forth as the flexible tip licks and collects the liquid. After feeding, the trunk is retracted and folded behind the head. Honey bees can eat fine particles such as pollen, which is used as a source of protein, but they are unable to handle large food.
      5. Chest :
The thorax is the central part of the body of the bees and is the anchor point for six legs (three couples), as well as two series of membranous wings. The pockets for transporting pollen to the hive are located on the hind legs.
     6. Ali :
The bee has two sets of flat, thin and membranous wings, strengthened by various veins. The front wings are much larger than the rear wings, but they all work together during the flight.

The simple flapping of wings is not enough to fly; the driving force derives from a movement similar to a twist given to each wing during its ascent and descent.

     7. Legs :

The bee has three pairs of segmented legs, which are mainly used for to walk. However, the legs of honey bees have developed specialized areas, such as those used for cleaning the antennae on the front legs and the pollen pockets on the rear legs.

      8. Pollen pockets :
The pollen pockets are smooth and slightly concave surfaces on the outside of the hind legs, equipped with long and curved hairs that hold the pollen. They are used to transport pollen and propolis to the hive.

     9. Abdomen:
The abdomen of honey bees is made up of nine segments and, in adult insects, it houses the wax glands and some odoriferous glands. The stinger is housed in a pocket at the end of the abdomen of adult females.

    10. Sting :
The stinger has a structure and mechanism similar to that of an egg-laying organ, known as an ovipositor, owned by other insects. In other words, the sting is a modified ovipositor that expels the poison instead of eggs: for this reason only female honey bees are equipped with it.

The bee stinger is located in a cavity at the end of the abdomen, from which only the sharp tip protrudes. It is about 3 mm long and when not in use it is retracted into the housing in the abdomen. The stinger body is an empty tube, like a hypodermic needle. It has a toothed tip so it can stick into the victim's skin.

The poison comes from two acid glands that secrete it into the poison pouch. During the puncture, the content of the alkaline gland is pumped directly into a canal where it mixes with the acid part.

When a bee stings a mammal, the stinger gets stuck. In the struggle to break free, a part of the stinger is left behind. This causes the bee a fatal wound. By reflex action, the stinger continues to contract, continuing to pump the poison into the wound for a few seconds.

     11. Wax gland :
Honey bees have four pairs of specialized glands which, during the wax formation period, thicken considerably and take on a glandular structure. The wax is expelled as a liquid and hardens into small flakes or flakes, after which it is deposited in the wax pockets.

The worker bee extracts the flakes of with the comb that is located inside the hind legs, after which it takes them to the jaws where they are chewed to become a compact and ductile mass. At the end of this process, the wax is added to the honeycomb. After the worker bee grows past the period of wax formation, the glands degenerate and become a flat layer of cells.