Bee Biology

Among the bees is the best-known species of eusocial, or highly social, animal, the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Eusociality in the bees, though, is not limited to only the honey bee. The stingless bees are all eusocia; these fascinating bees live in only in the tropics, where their many species and diverse social lifestyles make them prominent features of the tropical landscape. Bumblebees, more commonly found in the temperate zone, are primitively eusocial, meaning that the queen is not well-differentiated from her workers. Sweat bees are also primitively eusocial and live in small colonies in nests in the soil. The diversity of social life style in bees makes them particularly interesting subjects of study.

Not all bee species are eusocial; in fact, most bees in most species are solitary, nesting alone. Bees evolved from predatory wasps, replacing insects as the protein source in their diet with pollen. They inherited from their wasp ancestors a sting and the habit of constructing a nest. There are more than 25,000 species of bees, most of which are solitary. Bee diversity is highest in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world.


Solitary bees include the Megachilidae, which are long-tongued, leaf cutting bees that line their their nests (usually in hollow twigs or stems) with cut pieces of leaves or petals. They carry their pollen on the underside of their abdomen.The Anthophoridae, long-tongued, includes the large carpenter bees, which are often mistaken for bumblebees. Other common families of soliatary bees are the Andrenidae and Colletidae.


C. Biology of eusocial bees
Primitively eusocial bees have a life cycle that is a modification of their solitary relatives’. A single female founds a nest and then when her daughters emerge they join her as workers. There is usually little difference between the queen and workers. Bumblebees are primitively eusocial. Their thermoregulatory system makes them very important in alpine ecosystems. Highly eusocial bees establish new colonies by swarming, a division of the old colony. The only temperate highly eusocial bees are the honey bees. In the tropics, the stingless bees are abundant. Social bees tend to be polylectic--they forage on many flower species. Why?

 

 

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copyright ©2002 Michael D. Breed, all rights reserved