The following points highlight the three regions present in the structure of honey bee. The regions are: 1. Head 2. Thorax 3. Abdomen.
Region # 1. Head:
The head of honey bee is a wide and triangular structure with the apex pointed below. On the dorsolateral sides there is a pair of compound eyes and in the middle of the top there is a group of three ocelli.
A pair of short but many jointed antennae are borne on the middle of the face. Each antenna consists of a long scape, a small pedicel and a flagellum which has ten segments in the female and eleven in the male. The antennae probably serve as tactile and gustatory organs.
Mouth Parts:
The mouth parts of honey bee are attached to the lower part of the head and are of chewing and lapping type. These are modified for collecting the nectar and the pollen. Mouth parts consist of labrum, epipharynx, mandibles, maxillae and labium. Labrum lies below the clypeus, below the labrum is a fleshy epipharynx which is an organ of taste.
Mandibles are smooth and situated on either side of the labrum, they are used in moulding wax and making the honeycomb. The labium has submentum, mentum, paraglossa and a glossa or tongue with a long labial palp on each side. The glossa is long and can be extended, at its tip is a small labellum, the glossa is used for gathering honey, it is an organ of touch and taste.
Maxillae fit over the mentum on either side, they bear small maxillary palps. The maxillae and labial palps form a tube enclosing the glossa which moves up and down to collect nectar which is forced upwards by pressing together of maxillae and labial palps.
Region # 2. Thorax:
First abdominal segment called propodeum is fused to the thorax. The anterior wings are larger than the posterior pair. The hind wings have hooks which fit into a groove at the rear margin of forewings so that the wings of each side are locked together.
Legs:
There are three pairs of legs which are densely covered with hairs, which besides walking, help in collecting pollen and are variously modified. Each leg consists of five parts, viz., coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsus (five-jointed) terminating in a pair of claws and pulvillus.
Each prothoracic leg has a row of stiff bristles on tibia forming an eye brush for cleaning the compound eyes, at the distal end of tibia is a movable spine, the velum which can close over a notch on the tarsus to form an antena comb through which the antenna is drawn for cleaning.
Long bristles on the tarsus form a pollen brush for removing pollen from the front part of the body. Each mesothoracic leg has a pollen brush on the tarsus, the end of the tibia has a spur like a spine for removing pollen from the pollen basket and wax from abdomen.
Each metathoracic leg has a large tibia with a cavity with bristles forming a pollen basket or corbicula used for storing pollen during collection, at the distal end the tibia has a row of stiff bristles called pecten below which is a flat plate, the auricle.
The pecten and auricle form a wax pincher for removing wax from the abdomen of workers. The outer surface of the tarsus has a pollen brush and the inner surface has a pollen comb having rows of stiff spines, the pollen comb removes pollen from the body and fills it in the pollen basket.
Region # 3. Abdomen:
Abdomen of honey bee begins with the second segment, segments 2 to 7 are clearly visible but segments 8 to 10 are modified and hidden. The ovipositor is modified to form a sting (the worker being a sterile female).
Sting:
The sting is made of 3 pairs of gonapophyses, one pair of segment 8, and two pairs of segment 9. The gonapophyses of segment 8 form two stylets lying parallel and enclosing a poison-canal. One pair of gonapophyses of segment 9 fuse together to form a single stylet sheath, the other pair form two stylet palps.
The sting or terebra consists of two stylets articulated along their length to the hollow stylet sheath by a groove and rail arrangement. The stylets are held in place by this arrangement and they can move only up and down. The stylets and their sheath bear barbs at the tips to make a wound; proximally the stylet sheaths have a dilated bulb, then they form arms which are associated with 3 pairs of plates bearing muscles.
Attached to the stylets proximally is a median poison sac into which open two acid glands and one alkaline gland. In stinging the muscles of plates drive the stylets and stylet sheath into a victim, the secretions of two types of glands mix and pass down the poison canal into the wound. Generally the poison glands, sting and part of the intestine are pulled out in stinging and the bee dies within two days.
