Figures 12.4


The hind leg of a worker honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae):
Figures 12.4. The hind leg of a worker honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae):

(a) outer surface showing corbicula, or pollen basket (consisting of a depression fringed by stiff setae), and the press that pushes the pollen into the basket; (b) the inner surface with the combs and rakes that manipulate pollen into the press prior to packing. (After Snodgrass 1956; Winston 1987)

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  Worker bees from three eusocial genera, from left, Bombus, Apis, and Trigona (Apidae: Apinae), superficially resemble each other in morphology, but they differ in size and ecology, including their pollination preferences and level of eusociality.
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  Development of the honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), showing the factors that determine differentiation of the queen-laid eggs into drones, workers, and queens (on the left) and the approximate developmental times (in days) and stages for drones, workers, and queens (on the right).