Honey bee

Apis mellifera

Apis Mellifera is the most widespread bee in the world among the 20 thousand species identified by researchers. Of these, 1,678 species have been mapped in Brazil, the result of crossbreeding between European and African bees, as well as species originating from Asia, which is why they are called hybrids. It is believed that there are more than 2,500 species spread around the country. On the head of the Apis mellifera there are five eyes, two of them compound and three simple, called ocelli, and the antennae. These have sensors that are responsible for three senses, hearing, smell, and touch. Also on the head are two glands, which dissolve the wax and produce the royal jelly that is the food of the queen bee and the larvae raised in the royal cells. The corbicula is a compartment that exists in females and serves to collect and transport pollen. Males, on the other hand, do not have this feature because they do not work, they only have reproductive function. The sting is also a specificity of females, because they are responsible for the defense of the colony. The worker bees A. mellifera move among the flowers and end up unintentionally taking the pollen grains from the flower itself and between flowers. This is how fertilization and fruiting occurs. They reserve the nectar in the region of the stomach known as the honey vesicle. The pollen naturally sticks to the corbicula, a part of the bee′s hind legs, known as the pollen basket. Worker bees signal with pheromone the plants that deliver the most rewards, such as nectar. This is how the intelligence of the communication between these insects works. When marking plants, the workers help their colleagues to save time and energy because they go straight to the plants that have been marked. Bees play an important role in agricultural production all over the planet. They are responsible for more than 70 percent of plant pollination, which means they are key to food production in the world. Worker bees live up to 40 days or up to five months in cold climates. The males, ten days old, are expelled from the colony and live for about three weeks, if they copulate with a queen, they die soon after. The queens live for two to four years.