Honey Bee Medicine for the Veterinary Practitioner. Группа авторов

Читать онлайн книгу.

Honey Bee Medicine for the Veterinary Practitioner - Группа авторов


Скачать книгу
below).

      Unless otherwise noted, the following sections describe the features of the worker honey bee (Figure 3.2).

      Eyes

Photo depicts the three members of the honey bee hive that are drones, workers, and the queen.

      Source: Photo courtesy of Randy Oliver.

Schematic illustration of external anatomy of the honey bee.

      Source: Illustration by Patrick D. Wilson.

Photo depicts a magnified view of a honey bee compound eye. The hexagonal shape of the ommatidia are visible.

      Source: Photo courtesy of Jamie Perkins.

      The compound eyes are composed of approximately 5500 hexagonal “ommatidia.” An ommatidium can be thought of as an individual eye, each with a sensory (optic) nerve, that sends its own unique signals to the brain. Collectively, the input from these 5500 “eyes” compose what the honey bee “sees.”

Photo depicts the three ocelli are indicated by the small arrows.

      Source: Photo courtesy of Zachary Y. Huang.

      However, it is presumptuous to assume that the honey bee perceives its environment the same way we see or visually sense our environment. Although bees are considered to possess true color vision, the wavelengths to which a honey bee eye is sensitive ranges from 344 to 556 nm – a lower limit which supports the assumption that honey bee vision extends into the ultraviolet wavelengths (Kelber et al. 2003; Avarguès‐Weber et al. 2012).

      Mouthparts

Photo depicts the closeup of a honey bee antenna, showing the segments.

      Source: Photo courtesy of Jamie Perkins.

      The proboscis is a tubular structure used by the bee to suck in fluids such as nectar and water. In honey bees, the proboscis is formed by separate mouthpart components that combine to create a tube. In other nectar‐feeding insects such as butterflies, the proboscis is a dedicated tubular structure (Snodgrass et al. 2015) (Figure 3.2).

      Wings

      Honey bees have two pairs of wings: front and hind, left and right. As mentioned above, on each side of the thorax the front and hind wings are held together with tiny hooklets on the leading edge of the hind wing that catch on the caudal edge of the front wing. In this way, the front and hind wings function as a unit in flight (Figure 3.6).

      The wings are powered by muscles within the thorax which act to compress or expand the shape of the thorax, and thus raise and lower the wings. Although the flight mechanism is relatively simple, the honey bee has great maneuverability, being able to hover and to fly forward, backward, and sideways.

      Deformed wings may be observed in hives affected by deformed wing virus, so it behooves the veterinarian to make note of the wing structure of any honey bees on a frame, as bees with this condition may be unable to fly.

Photo depicts wing hooklets, greatly magnified.

      Source: Photo courtesy of Jamie Perkins.

      Legs

      Like all insects, honey bees have three pairs of legs (front, middle, and back), all attached to the thorax (left and right). There are


Скачать книгу