Page 28 - World of Animals - Issue #36

All about the honeybee

Inside the honeybee

Wing muscle
The bee’s anatomy is anything but simple. Despite
their small size, honeybees have powerful brains,
a potent venom gland and sweet saliva. It takes a
complicated mechanism to mass produce honey
and keep the cavernous colony under control

EUROPEAN HONEYBEE
Apis mellifera Spiracles
Class Insect These air holes are in
place of lungs and are
controlled by rings of
muscle. They are opened
Territory Europe, Asia and and closed at will. Air sacs
Africa
Diet Herbivore Crop
Lifespan Up to 10 months Heart
Adult weight Up to 300mg
(0.01oz) A simple organ pumps
Conservation Status amber-coloured,
oxygen-free blood
around the body. It
NOT EVALUATED
is an open system,
meaning blood is not
encased in vessels but
is found all around the
animal’s organs.

Ovary

Rectum

Sting
This fragile lance
is fuelled with a
venom gland and
is used as a last
resort against
a predator.
Wax glands
Four pairs of glands develop wax
and then flatten back once the wax
production is over.

INFANCY JUVENILE MATURITY

Laying an egg Day 1 Initial larva Day 3 Filling the cell Day 10 Pupa development Day 18 Emerging as an adult Babysitting new bees Day 30
The queen inserts her Each egg hatches, releasing a tiny Soon the larva grows so much The animal’s body parts begin Day 24 Though less than a month ago
fertilised eggs into a larval grub. This worm-like infant that there’s no more room in the to resemble their adult form and The fully grown bee leaves the they were in the very same cells,
cell in the honeycomb is fed by adult workers and will honeycomb wall. It is then sealed the pupating bee grows hair all honeycomb cell and instantly young workers begin to feed the
where it begins to grow. soon grow to 1,500 times its size. by a worker. over the body. begins to clean up aer itself. next generation of growing larvae.

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