CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How many bees are there in a typical wild Chinese honeybee colony?

How many bee colonies are there in the wild?

1. Trapping Chinese bees

To trap wild Chinese bees, you need to place empty beehives in places suitable for their survival, and lure swarms or migrating Chinese bees to fly in automatically. When trapping, you need to master the following steps:

(1) Choose a location

To lure wild bee colonies, you should choose to place beehives in places with abundant nectar and pollen sources, nearby water sources, at the sunny foothills or hillsides, with a suitable microclimate and obvious targets.

(2) Seize the opportunity

The success rate of trapping is high during the bee swarming season. April to May in the north and November to December in the south are the best times to trap Chinese honey bees. In the southern subtropical regions, nectar sources are scarce from August to September, and wild bee colonies may migrate, which is also suitable for trapping.

(3) Prepare the beehive

Wash the new beehive with rice water to remove the smell of wood, dry it, and apply beeswax on the inner wall. Put 3 to 5 nest frames with wire and narrow strips in the box, add partitions on both sides, and fill the gaps in the box with hay. The nest door is 8 mm wide. Put rocks or tree trunks and use stones to pad the beehive off the ground. Old beehive barrels with wax base have the smell of beeswax and are suitable for luring wild bee colonies.

(4) Check regularly

During the swarming season, check once every three days. When it rains for a long time and then clears up, check in time. If you find that wild bees have moved in, wait until the bees return to the nest in the evening, close the nest door, and move the bees back for breeding. If you use old beehives, you should move them to new boxes as soon as possible.

2. Hunting Chinese bees

The capture is based on the nesting habits and rules of wild bees, tracking the returning bees, finding the wild bee hives, and then collecting them. Hunting wild bees is more suitable in summer in the north; in the south of the Yangtze River, Chinese bees can be active all year round, and it is better to do it in April to May and October to November when the climate is warm, the nectar source is abundant, and the bee colony is strong.

(1) Tracking honey bees

On sunny days, between 9am and 11am, go into the mountains and look for honey bees, and observe their flight activities and directions when they return to the hive. When honey bees take off from flowers, they often hover and fly toward the hive. If the returning bees make a circle when they take off and fly below 5 meters, it means that the hive is far away and difficult to track. When you find bees collecting honey on flowers, you can hold a small dish of honey in your hand, and when a flying bee returns from collecting honey, follow its flight direction step by step, and you will eventually find the hive. In mountainous areas where bees are active, apply honey on leaves 2 meters above the ground, and burn some old honeycombs to emit a beeswax smell. If bees are attracted, pay attention to the flight and direction of the returning bees. Also, observe the flight route of the returning bees in the same way at a distance of about 10 meters. Tracking in the direction where the two flight lines intersect may help you find the hive. Another method is to use a line several dozen centimeters long, tie a small piece of paper on one end, and tie the other end to the waist of the captured honey bee, and then release it. Bees with paper attached fly slowly, making them easier to track.

(2) Tracking water bees

Bees often collect water near water sources near their hives, so carefully observe streams, fields, or depressions with stagnant water. If you find water-collecting bees, it means the hive is no more than 1 kilometer away.

(3) Look for bee droppings

When bees fly in groups (recognize the nest) or fly freely, they often excrete feces near the hive. If you find yellow bee feces on leaves or weeds, it means there is a hive nearby.

(4) Search tree holes

Bees often build nests in tree trunks with holes. You can ask herbalists, hunters, and other people who often go into the mountains for clues. Search carefully for large trees with holes along the edge of the forest.

5) Hunting methods

After discovering a wild beehive, prepare various tools: such as knives, axes, chisels, and hoes for digging holes, as well as smoke sprayers (or mugwort) for collecting bees, beehives (boxes), beehive nets, buckets, etc.

① Capturing tree hole bees or earth hole bees: dig the hole, and after vibration, most of the bees will suck honey and crawl away from the honeycomb. Then use smoke to make the bees leave the honeycomb and gather in the empty space. Refer to the method of not turning over the nest, cut the honeycomb, put in the frame, and collect the bees. Pay special attention to collecting the queen bee during the operation.

After capturing the tree hole bees, you can use the original tree holes to trap wild bees. Therefore, when chiseling the tree hole, protect the original nest as much as possible, leaving a part of the wax base, and then repair it with bark, wood chips, and clay, leaving an entry and exit hole.

② Capturing rock bees: If the rock cave cannot be chiseled open, first find several holes, keep only one of the entrances and seal the rest with mud. Then put cotton wool (or cotton balls with camphor oil) dipped in 50% carbolic acid gas into the nest, and immediately insert a glass tube with a diameter of about 10 mm from the reserved entrance, and extend the other end into the hive door. Driven by the carbolic acid gas, the bees will enter the hive through the glass tube. After seeing that the queen bee has passed through the tube and most of the bees in the cave have come out, close the hive door and transport them back for processing.

Don't mess around with information about bees

Bee English name: Bee Honeybee

The general name of the superfamily Apoidea in the order Hymenoptera of the class Insecta. The honey-producing and widely raised ones are mainly the Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) (represented by the Italian honey bees) and the Oriental honey bees (Apis cerana) (represented by the Chinese honey bees). The bees have a pronotum that does not reach the wing base, a body covered with branched or feathery hairs, and a hind leg that is often specialized for collecting pollen. The adult body is covered with velvet, and the legs or abdomen have a pollen collecting organ composed of long hairs. The mouthparts are chewing and sucking, which is a unique feature among insects. Holometabolism. There are about 15,000 known species in the world, and about 1,000 known species in China. Many species have products or behaviors that are closely related to medicine (such as honey and royal jelly), agriculture (such as crop pollination), and industry (such as beeswax and propolis). They are called resource insects.

Apocrita is a suborder of the order Hymenoptera, with about 20,000 species, including the familiar bees (Apis) and bumblebees (Bombus and Psithyrus), as well as thousands of wasp- and fly-like bees. Adult bees are about 2 mm to 4 cm (about 0.08 to 1.6 in) long.

Honey bees are closely related to some species of wasps. The main biological difference between the two is that bees (except parasitic bees) feed their young a mixture of pollen and nectar, while wasps feed their young on animal food or insects and spiders. In addition to the difference in food preference, there are some structural differences. The most basic difference is that wasps are covered with unbranched hairs, while bees have at least some branched or feathery hairs, to which pollen usually adheres.

Bees feed entirely on flowers, including pollen and nectar, the latter of which is sometimes prepared and stored as honey. There is no doubt that bees pollinate flowers when they collect pollen. When bees collect pollen from flower to flower, they drop some pollen onto the flowers. This dropped pollen is of great importance because it often causes cross-pollination of plants. The actual value of bees as pollinators is greater than the value of their production of honey and beeswax.

Drones usually do not live long, do not collect pollen, and are not responsible for feeding young bees. Worker bees are responsible for all nest building and food storage work, and usually have special structures to carry pollen. Most bees collect pollen from a variety of flowers, but some bees only collect pollen from flowers of certain families, some only collect pollen from flowers of a certain color, and some only collect pollen from some related flowers. The mouth of the bee is a tool for collecting and carrying pollen, and it seems to be able to adapt to different types of flowers.

Most bees in the superfamily Apoidea are solitary or non-social, that is, they do not live together. Each female builds her own nest (usually in an underground cave) and stores food. There is no hierarchy among these bees. Some solitary bees build chimneys or turrets at the entrance of the nest, while others build nests in trees or in twigs or bamboo. Most solitary adult bees do not live long. In some species, adult bees fly only a few weeks a year, and the rest of the time they stay in the nest as eggs, larvae, pupae, and young bees.

Solitary bees provide all the food the young need to fully develop while sealed in the chamber. Social bees, such as bumblebees and honeybees, adopt a gradual approach to rearing their young. For the life cycle of social insects, see the articles on bumblebees and honeybees.

There are eight families in the superfamily Apoidea: 1. Colletidae, a primitive group of wasp-like bees with five or six subfamilies, about 45 genera and 3,000 species; 2. Andrenidae, medium-sized solitary ground bees, including some parasitic species; 3. Halictidae (ground bees or burrowing bees), some species are attracted to sweat, so they are also called sweat bees, the most famous sweat bee is Dialictus zephyrus; 4. Oxaeidae, a large, fast-flying bee with a similar structure to that of the Andrenidae; 5. Melittidae, a transitional bee between lower and higher levels; 6. Megachilidae (leafcutter bees, mason bees), famous for their exquisite nesting structures; 7. Anthophoridae (including carpenter bees and cuckoo bees), a large family with three subfamilies, was once considered a subfamily of the Apidae family; 8. Apidae, including bumblebees, digger bees or ground flower bees.

The so-called "killer bees" are a hybrid between African honey bees and European honey bees. This Africanized honey bee subspecies accidentally escaped in 1957 when a hybrid bee adapted to tropical climates and prolific was being bred in Brazil. It can fly about 320 to 480 kilometers (200 to 300 miles) a year. It flew to Mexico in the 1980s and to Texas in 1990. It is now widespread in most of the southwestern United States, including southern California, southern Nevada, and all of Arizona. In addition, a growing group of Africanized honey bees has been found in Florida. It is believed that they have caused hundreds of deaths. This Africanized honey bee is smaller than the European species and is not very effective in pollinating plants. Although it is not very toxic, it reacts quickly to threats to its habitat, attacks in groups, and pursues for longer periods of time and over longer distances, which takes a long time to subside.

【Life habits】

Bees lay eggs in the hive chamber, and the larvae live in the hive chamber. The larvae that lead a social life are fed by worker bees, while the larvae that lead a solitary life eat the bee food stored in the hive chamber by the female bees. When the bee food is eaten up, the larvae mature and pupate, and then emerge from the cocoon when they emerge from the cocoon. Domesticated bees breed several generations a year, while wild bees breed 1 to 3 generations a year. They overwinter as mature larvae, pupae or adults. Generally, males appear earlier than females, have a shorter lifespan, and do not undertake the tasks of building nests, storing bee food and raising offspring. Female bees build nests, collect pollen and nectar, and store them in the hive chamber, and have a longer lifespan than males.

Bees feed on pollen and nectar from plants. Their diet can be divided into three categories: ① Polyphagous, that is, they feed on pollen and nectar from plants of different families or from flowers of a certain color (not limited to plant species), such as Italian bees and Chinese bees. ② Oligophagous, that is, they feed on flowers of plants from closely related families and genera, such as alfalfa bees. ③ Monophagous, that is, they feed only on a certain plant or closely related species, such as cornflower bees. The flowers visited by various types of bees are closely related to the length of their mouthparts: for example, species with shorter mouthparts such as the Mylidae, Mylidae, and Schizoglossidae visit open flowers of the Rosaceae, Cruciferae, Apiaceae, and Ranunculaceae; while species of the Leaf-cutting Bemidae, Mylidae, and Apidae, due to their longer mouthparts, visit flowers with deep floral tubes such as the Fabaceae and Lamiaceae families.

There are three types of lifestyles:

Social. Males, females and worker bees live in the same nest, but they differ in morphology, physiology and division of labor. Females are larger and specialize in egg-laying and reproduction; males are smaller than females and specialize in mating, and die after mating; worker bees are smaller and are female bees with underdeveloped genitals. They specialize in building nests, collecting food, feeding larvae, cleaning nests and regulating nest humidity. Both Italian bees and Chinese bees are social species. In addition, there are Bombus, Tropical Stingless Bees, and Wheat Bees.

Solitary. Most bees are solitary, that is, worker bees build nests, collect pollen and store food alone, and they have no hierarchical differentiation. Each nest cell is open, and the inner wall is coated with moisture-proof materials such as wax, and sufficient bee food is stored in the cell. The female bee lays eggs on the bee food and seals the nest cell. The larvae eat the bee food in the nest. Most of the species belonging to this category are wild species, such as the family of Schizoglossidae, the family of Gespermidae, the family of Tunneling Bees, the family of Quasi-Apidae, the family of Leaf-Cutter Bees and the family of Trembling Bees.

Parasitic. Female bees do not build nests, but lay eggs in the host's nest. Young larvae generally have large heads and mandibles, which they use to destroy the host's eggs or young larvae.

The nesting instinct of bees is complex, and the location, time and structure of nests vary. The nesting time is generally during the flowering period of plants. According to the location of the nest and the texture of the nest, it can be divided into the following categories: ① Species with social life use wax secreted by themselves as spleen, such as honey bees, stingless bees, and lycopods. The nest chamber is hexagonal. ② Most species build nests in the soil, and the inside of the nest chamber is coated with a mixture of wax and saliva to maintain the humidity inside the nest chamber. ③ There are more diverse nests built using plant tissues. For example, leafcutter bees can roll plant leaves into tubes to form nest chambers and place them in natural cavities; yellow spot bees use plant hairs to make wart-like nests on stems; reed bees and leaf tongue bees build nests in dead plant stems; some species of the genus Bombus build nests under dead branches and leaves in the woods; carpenter bees drill holes in wood to make nests, and so on. ④ Others, such as the genus Mason bee, use saliva to stick small gravel into a nest, the genus Osmia builds a nest inside the shells of slugs, and so on.

Beehives are generally scattered, but there are also cases where the same species of bees build nests in one location for many years, thus forming a colony. For example, the number of nests of the genus Trichopoda can reach dozens or even hundreds.

Edit this section [Geographical distribution]

The geographical distribution of bees depends on the distribution of nectar plants. They are distributed all over the world, but there are more species in tropical and subtropical areas. The distribution of different subfamilies or genera has certain limitations. For example, bumblebees in the Apidae family are mainly distributed in the northern temperate zone, extending to the Arctic region, but there is no distribution record in tropical regions. The Brachyglossidae family is distributed in Australia; the subgenus of the carpenter bee tribe of the Apidae family is only distributed in Central Asia; the genus of stingless bees in the Apidae family is distributed in the tropics. Bees are distributed in different landscapes, and most of them live in grasslands, forests, river valleys, mountains and deserts. Each landscape belt has representative genera or species. For example, the ground bumblebee is a forest-steppe species, the genus Pseudo-geophilus is a typical grassland genus, and the genus Paraspermum is mostly grassland species.

Edit this section [Classification and evolution]

According to fossil data, bees have been found in large numbers in the late Eocene strata of the Tertiary Period. Their appearance is closely related to the prosperity of flowering plants in the late Cretaceous period.

In terms of classification, the superfamily Apoidea is close to the superfamily Sphaeroidea, and its ancestors may have originated from a branch of the superfamily Sphaeroidea. However, due to different feeding habits, the morphological characteristics also tend to diverge. The evolutionary characteristics of honey bees are: chewing and sucking mouthparts, the formation of pollen-collecting organs, and branching of body hairs; both adults and larvae eat nectar and pollen; the emergence of group and social lifestyles; the emergence of polymorphism and parasitism within the superfamily, etc.

In the class Insecta, bees belong to a highly evolved group. They have developed a social lifestyle, the transmission of "language" information, the method of identifying beehives through "dance" movements, and the different structures of nests.

Edit this section [Economic significance]

Bees are one of the insect groups that are beneficial to humans. They pollinate crops, fruit trees, vegetables, forage grasses, oil tea crops and Chinese medicinal plants, and can increase production by several to 20 times. Honey is a commonly used tonic, known as "milk for the elderly"; bee pollen is praised as a "micro-nutrient bank"; royal jelly is a high-end nutrient that can not only strengthen the body and prolong life, but also treat chronic diseases such as neurasthenia, anemia, and gastric ulcers; bee venom is effective for rheumatism, neuritis, etc.; beeswax and propolis are both raw materials for light industry.

All bees feed on pollen and nectar. Nectar is converted into honey in the digestive tract. All female bees have a sting. Honey bees and wasps (a larger, rounder bee with a black body) are both insects, but most of these species live alone, with some living in other bee hives and getting food from other bees. A typical honey bee colony has a queen bee that lays eggs, sexually undeveloped worker bees, and many fertile drones.

The number of worker bees ranges from 12 to more than 50,000, depending on the species. They collect nectar and pollen, and in the case of honey bees, deliver them to specific locations by performing special and rigorous dances. Their duties include making honey, making the wax cells that are used for food storage and larvae, taking care of the bees and the queen, and guarding and expanding the hive. Bees are a perennial colony. New queens are constantly being raised. The old queen then leaves the hive with a group of worker bees to rebuild a home somewhere else. Bees are very useful. Because they can also act like insects that pollinate plants.

There are many drones, and there may be nearly a thousand of them in a colony. The only duty of a drone is to mate with the queen bee. During mating, the queen bee flies out of the nest, and the drones in the colony chase after her. This is called a nuptial flight. The queen bee's nuptial flight mate selection is carried out through a flying competition, and only the winner can become a mate. After mating, the drone's reproductive organs fall off in the queen bee's reproductive organs. At this time, the drone has completed its life mission and died. Those drones that failed to mate with the queen bee only know how to eat and drink after returning to the nest, and they don't know how to collect honey. They become redundant lazy people in the bee colony. After a long time, the worker bees will expel them. Beekeepers are also unwilling to keep too many drones in the bee colony to consume honey, so they artificially eliminate them. From this point of view, the number of worker bees in this group is the largest. The number of worker bees that beekeepers keep in a bee colony varies according to different seasons, and is generally 20,000 to 50,000 worker bees. Worker bees are the most hardworking. The children's song "Little bees, busy all day, collecting nectar and making honey" only refers to worker bees. In addition to collecting pollen and making honey, building nests, feeding larvae, cleaning the environment, and protecting the bee colony are also the tasks of worker bees. From spring to late autumn, when plants bloom, bees are busy every day. Winter is the only short period of leisure for bees. However, cold weather and low temperatures in the hive are not good for bees, because bees are cold-blooded animals, and their body temperature changes with the temperature of the surrounding environment. The wise little bees have come up with a special way to resist the severe cold. When the temperature in the hive drops to 13℃, they move closer to each other in the hive and form a ball. The lower the temperature, the tighter the grouping, which reduces the surface area of ​​the bee group and increases the density to prevent excessive cooling. According to measurements, the temperature in the bee ball can still be maintained at around 24℃ at the coldest time. At the same time, they also use eating more honey and increasing exercise to generate heat to increase the temperature in the hive. When the weather is cold, the temperature of the surface of the bee ball is lower than that of the center. At this time, the bees on the surface of the ball drill into the center of the ball, while the bees in the center move outward. They take care of each other and exchange positions repeatedly to survive the cold winter. How do they eat the honey stored in the hive during the winter? The clever little bees have their own tricks. They do not need to dissolve the ball and crawl out to eat separately, but get food by passing it to each other. Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera and the family Apidae. They go through four stages in their life: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

In the bee society, they still live a matriarchal life. Among the members of their group family, there is a queen bee (queen bee), which is a female bee with reproductive ability, responsible for laying eggs and reproducing offspring, and at the same time "ruling" this large family. Although the queen bee has mated, not all the eggs she lays are fertilized. According to the needs of the group family, it can lay fertilized eggs that will develop into female bees (worker bees without reproductive ability) in the future; it can also lay unfertilized eggs that will develop into drones in the future. When the members of this group family multiply too much and cause crowding, it is necessary to divide the group. The process of dividing the group is as follows: the worker bees make a special honeycomb - the royal cell, and the queen bee lays fertilized eggs in the royal cell; after the small larvae hatch, the worker bees give them special treatment and feed them with the highly nutritious royal jelly produced in their bodies. When the small larvae develop into adults, they become new queen bees with reproductive ability. The new queen bee will lead a part of the worker bees to fly away to form a new group. Apis cerana Fabr. and A. mellifera L. are both commonly raised beneficial insects. During the breeding process, after the new queen bee is born, it must be divided into groups manually, otherwise a queen bee will lead a group of worker bees to leave the hive and fly away, resulting in the loss of the bee colony. Beekeepers use artificial methods to produce royal jelly, which is actually to artificially make some royal cells and put them in the beehive for the queen bee to lay eggs. When the larvae are hatched and the worker bees are fed with royal jelly, the beekeeper will take out the royal jelly. In fact, the beekeeper is using a trick, which shows that even smart little bees can be deceived.

Edit this section [Reproduction method]

Drones reproduce asexually (oviparously); queen bees and worker bees are diploid and develop from fertilized eggs; mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship

Edit this section [Division of labor among bees]

Bees have three types of division of labor:

Queen Bee:

The queen bee's task is to lay eggs. The queen bee hormones it secretes can inhibit the development of the worker bees' ovaries and affect the behavior of the worker bees in the hive. The queen bee is cultivated by the worker bees using fertilized eggs to build the queen cell. The worker bees take special care of the fertilized eggs in the queen cell and feed them royal jelly until the larvae pupate, so that the queen bee larvae are soaked in royal jelly. Royal jelly is rich in protein, vitamins and biological hormones, which plays an important role in promoting the growth and development of the queen bee larvae, especially the development of the female reproductive organs. As the queen bee larvae grow, the worker bees raise the base of the cell and finally seal it.

The newly emerged queen bee has a soft body and is combed by worker bees. The virgin queen that has successfully mated will soon begin to lay eggs. After mating, the virgin queen will not leave the nest except for swarming. The queen bee is slender and stable. Its life span is generally three to five years, and the longest can live eight or nine years. The highest egg production occurs in spring and around the flowering period.

Drone:

The task of the drone is to reproduce after mating with the virgin queen. The drone does not participate in brewing and collecting production, and the individual is larger than the worker bee. The drone is developed from unfertilized eggs. It develops in a larger drone cell, and the worker bees also feed it better. The entire development process. The food intake of the drone larvae is one or two times that of the worker bee larvae. The development of the drone reproductive system takes a long time. It takes about eight to fourteen days after the emergence of the cell to reach sexual maturity. When the drone is sexually mature, a large number of sperm in the seminal tubules in its testis mature and gradually discharge into the spermatophore. Generally, the amount of semen in the spermatophore of a drone is 1.5-2.0μL (microliters). There are an average of 7.5 million sperm per microliter of semen. The number and vitality of sperm have a direct impact on the genetic traits and development of the offspring of the bee colony. Therefore, selecting a population with high-quality genetic offspring as the father is as important as selecting a high-quality queen bee.

Worker Bee:

The main tasks of worker bees are to collect food, feed larvae, secrete wax to build combs, secrete honey to clean nests, protect nests and attack enemies. Basically, all kinds of work in the hive are done by worker bees; like queen bees, worker bees are developed from fertilized eggs. The nursing worker bees do not take as good care of them as they do for queen bee larvae. They are only fed royal jelly in the first three days after hatching, and only a honey and pollen mixed feed from the fourth day on. This is because the nutrition of this feed is not as high as royal jelly, and it lacks biological hormones that promote ovarian development. Therefore, the development of the reproductive organs of worker bees is inhibited. Until they emerge as adult bees, there are only a few ovarian tubes in their ovaries, and they have lost their normal reproductive function. Therefore, they are incompletely developed female bees,

The life span of worker bees is generally 30 to 60 days. During the wintering period in the north, worker bees are less active, and those who do not participate in feeding larvae can live for five to six months. The number of worker bees in each colony depends on the prosperity of the colony.

(Reference: Chinese Bee Therapy Network)

Edit this section [other bee-related]

To produce one kilogram of honey, a bee needs to spend 33,333 working hours and suck the stamens of 3,333 flowers.

To produce 500 grams of honey, worker bees need to fly back and forth 37,000 times to discover and collect nectar and bring it back to the hive.

A bee's wings can flap 200 to 400 times per second.

The maximum flying speed of a bee is 40 kilometers per hour. When it is fully loaded, the flying speed is 20 to 24 kilometers per hour.

An average beehive has 50,000 cells and is home to 35,000 busy bees.

A bee's hairy body can hold between 50,000 and 750,000 pollen grains.

One tablespoon of honey provides enough energy for a bee to fly around the world.

The life span of worker bees is 38 days in summer and 6 months in winter.

The life span of a queen bee is generally 4 to 5 years.

With five compound eyes and three simple eyes, bees have a field of vision of almost 360 degrees.

1. Dance language;

2. Bees will also change their index in time, relying on the polarized light beam reflected from the sky to determine their position and return to the nest in time;

3. Use the continuous vibration of the wings to spontaneously emit "buzzing" sounds of different frequencies to supplement the deficiencies of the "dance language" and enhance the expressive ability of the tone.

The dance language of insects plays a major role in conveying information, which is particularly prominent in bees and also obvious in butterflies.

In the social life of bees, worker bees are responsible for the heavy tasks of nest building, pollen collection, honey brewing, and child rearing. Before a large number of worker bees go out of the nest to collect honey, they first send out "scout bees" to find the source of honey. When the scout bees find the source of honey within 100 meters of the beehive, they return to the nest to report. In addition to leaving tracking information, they also turn left or right in small circles alternately on the beehive, crawling in a "round dance" manner. If the source of honey is more than 100 meters away from the beehive, the scout bees will change their dance posture to form an "∞" shape, so it is also called "8-shaped dance" or "tail-wagging dance". If all the crawling routes are connected, the longer the straight-line crawling time, the farther away from the honey source. If the straight-line crawling lasts for 1 second, it means that the distance to the honey source is about 500 meters; if it lasts for 2 seconds, it is about 1,000 meters. When the scout bees perform this performance, the surrounding worker bees will extend their antennae on their heads to collide with the dancer's body first, perhaps to get information from it. The "wagging dance" performed by scout bees can not only indicate the distance from the nectar source, but also play the role of specifying the direction. The direction of the nectar source is indicated by the angle formed by the central axis in the hive when performing the "wagging dance". In case of rainy days, the method of using dance for positioning is a bit ineffective. Bees will also change the index in time, rely on the polarized light beam reflected from the sky to determine the direction and return to the hive in time. People may ask, how do other bees understand the various dance moves performed by worker bees in the dark beehive? It turns out that they use the trembling antennae on their heads to touch the body of the worker bees, converting the "dance language" into "contact language" to obtain information. This transmission method sometimes fails. For this reason, they also use the continuous vibration of their wings to spontaneously emit "buzzing" sounds of different frequencies to supplement the deficiencies of the "dance language" and enhance the ability to express tone.

The main natural enemy of honey bees is the wasp.

Bee English name: Bee Honeybee

A general term for the superfamily Apoidea of ​​the order Hymenoptera of the class Insecta. The honey bees that are valuable and widely kept are mainly the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the Chinese honey bee (Apis cerana). A bee with a pronotum that does not reach the wing base, a body covered with branched or feathery hairs, and a hind leg that is often specialized for collecting pollen. The adult body is covered with velvet, and the legs or abdomen have a pollen collecting organ composed of long hairs. The mouthparts are chewing and sucking, which is a unique feature among insects. Holometabolism. There are about 15,000 known species in the world, and about 1,000 known species in China. Many species have products or behaviors that are closely related to medicine (such as honey and royal jelly), agriculture (such as crop pollination), and industry (such as beeswax and propolis). They are called resource insects.

[Life habits] Bees lay eggs in the nest chamber, and the larvae live in the nest chamber. The larvae that lead a social life are fed by worker bees, and the larvae that lead a solitary life eat the bee food stored in the nest chamber by the female bees. When the bee food is eaten up, the larvae mature and pupate, and then emerge from the cocoon. Domesticated bees have several generations a year, while wild bees have 1 to 3 generations a year. They overwinter as mature larvae, pupae or adults. Generally, males appear earlier than females, have a shorter lifespan, and do not take on the tasks of building nests, storing bee food and raising offspring. Female bees build nests, collect pollen and nectar, and store them in the nest chamber, and have a longer lifespan than males.

Bees feed on pollen and nectar from plants. Their diet can be divided into three categories: ① Polyphagous, that is, they feed on pollen and nectar from plants of different families or from flowers of a certain color (not limited to plant species), such as Italian bees and Chinese bees. ② Oligophagous, that is, they feed on flowers of plants from closely related families and genera, such as alfalfa bees. ③ Monophagous, that is, they feed only on a certain plant or closely related species, such as cornflower bees. The flowers visited by various types of bees are closely related to the length of their mouthparts: for example, species with shorter mouthparts such as the Mylidae, Mylidae, and Schizoglossidae visit open flowers of the Rosaceae, Cruciferae, Apiaceae, and Ranunculaceae; while species of the Leaf-cutting Bemidae, Mylidae, and Apidae, due to their longer mouthparts, visit flowers with deep floral tubes such as the Fabaceae and Lamiaceae families.

There are three types of lifestyles:

Social. Males, females and worker bees live in the same nest, but they differ in morphology, physiology and division of labor. Females are larger and specialize in egg-laying and reproduction; males are smaller than females and specialize in mating, and die after mating; worker bees are smaller and are female bees with underdeveloped genitals. They specialize in building nests, collecting food, feeding larvae, cleaning nests and regulating nest humidity. Both Italian bees and Chinese bees are social species. In addition, there are Bombus, Tropical Stingless Bees, and Wheat Bees.

Solitary. Most bees are solitary, that is, female bees build nests and collect pollen and store food alone, and they have no hierarchical differentiation. Each nest cell is open, and the inner wall is coated with moisture-proof materials such as wax, and sufficient bee food is stored in the cell. The female bee lays eggs on the bee food and seals the nest cell. The larvae eat the bee food in the nest. Most of the species belonging to this category are wild species, such as the family of Schizoglossidae, the family of Gespermidae, the family of Tunneling Bees, the family of Quasi-Apidae, the family of Leaf-Cutter Bees, and the family of Trembling Bees.

Parasitic. Female bees do not build nests, but lay eggs in the host's nest. Young larvae generally have large heads and mandibles, which they use to destroy the host's eggs or young larvae.

The nesting instinct of bees is complex, and the location, time and structure of nests vary. The nesting time is generally during the flowering period of plants. According to the location of the nest and the texture of the nest, it can be divided into the following categories: ① Species with social life use wax secreted by themselves as spleen, such as honey bees, stingless bees, and lycopods. The nest chamber is hexagonal. ② Most species build nests in the soil, and the inside of the nest chamber is coated with a mixture of wax and saliva to maintain the humidity inside the nest chamber. ③ There are more diverse nests built using plant tissues. For example, leafcutter bees can roll plant leaves into tubes to form nest chambers and place them in natural cavities; yellow spot bees use plant hairs to make wart-like nests on stems; reed bees and leaf tongue bees build nests in dead plant stems; some species of the genus Bombus build nests under dead branches and leaves in the woods; carpenter bees drill holes in wood to make nests, and so on. ④ Others, such as the genus Mason bee, use saliva to stick small gravel into a nest, the genus Osmia builds a nest inside the shells of slugs, and so on.

Beehives are generally scattered, but there are also cases where the same species of bees build nests in one location for many years, thus forming a colony. For example, the number of nests of the genus Trichopoda can reach dozens or even hundreds.

[Geographical distribution] The geographical distribution of bees depends on the distribution of nectar plants. They are distributed all over the world, but there are more species in tropical and subtropical areas. The distribution of different subfamilies or genera has certain limitations. For example, bumblebees in the Apidae family are mainly distributed in the northern temperate zone, extending to the Arctic region, but there is no distribution record in tropical regions. The Brachyglossidae family is distributed in Australia; the subgenus of the carpenter bee tribe of the Apidae family is only distributed in Central Asia; the genus of stingless bees in the Apidae family is distributed in the tropics. Bees are distributed in different landscapes, and most of them live in desert steppes, grasslands, forest steppes, river valleys and mountains. Each landscape belt has representative genera or species, for example, the ground bumblebee is a forest steppe species, the genus Pseudo-geophilus is a typical steppe genus, and the genus Paraspermum is mostly steppe species.

[Classification and Evolution] According to fossil data, bees have been found in large numbers in the late Eocene strata of the Tertiary Period. Their appearance is closely related to the prosperity of flowering plants in the late Cretaceous period.

In terms of classification, the superfamily Apoidea is close to the superfamily Sphaeroidea, and its ancestors may have originated from a branch of the superfamily Sphaeroidea. However, due to different feeding habits, the morphological characteristics also tend to diverge. The evolutionary characteristics of honey bees are: chewing and sucking mouthparts, the formation of pollen-collecting organs, and branching of body hairs; both adults and larvae eat nectar and pollen; the emergence of group and social lifestyles; the emergence of polymorphism and parasitism within the superfamily, etc.

In the class Insecta, bees belong to a highly evolved group. They have developed social lifestyles, language information transmission, methods of identifying beehives through dance movements, and different nest structures.

【Economic significance】Bees are one of the insect groups that are beneficial to humans. They pollinate crops, fruit trees, vegetables, forage grasses, oil tea crops and Chinese medicinal plants, and their yields can be increased several to 20 times. Honey is a commonly used tonic, known as the milk of the elderly; royal jelly is a high-end nutritional product that can not only strengthen the body and prolong life, but also treat chronic diseases such as neurasthenia, anemia, and gastric ulcers; bee venom is effective for rheumatism, neuritis, etc.; beeswax and propolis are both raw materials for light industry.

All bees feed on pollen and nectar. Nectar is converted into honey in the digestive tract. All female bees have a sting. Honey bees and wasps (a larger, rounder bee with a black body) are both insects, but most of these species live alone, with some living in other bee hives and getting food from other bees. A typical bee colony has a queen bee that lays eggs, sexually undeveloped female bees (workers), and many fertile drones.

The number of worker bees ranges from 12 to more than 50,000, depending on the species. They collect nectar and pollen, and in the case of honey bees, deliver them to specific locations by performing special and rigorous dances. Their duties include making honey, making the wax cells that are used for food storage and larvae, taking care of the bees and the queen, and guarding and expanding the hive. Bees are a perennial colony. New queens are constantly being raised. The old queen then leaves the hive with a group of worker bees to rebuild a home somewhere else. Bees are very useful. Because they can also act like insects that pollinate plants.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : When the weather is cold, the external temperature of the bee ball is lower than that of the ball. At this time, the bees on the surface of the ball are drilled towards the ball, while the bees on the ball are transferred outwards. They take care of each other, constantly exchange positions repeatedly to survive the cold winter. How do they feed the honey stored in the bee chamber during the wintering period? Smart little bees have their own tricks. They do not need to disband the ball and climb out to get food, but obtain food by passing on each other. This can keep the temperature in the ball unchanged or less changing, so as to facilitate safe wintering.

Bees belong to the Hymenoptera and the Bee family. They have to go through four insect states: eggs, larvae, pupa and adults in their lifetime.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Apis cerana Fabr. and A. mellifera L. are both commonly raised beneficial insects. During the breeding process, after the new queen bee is born, it must be divided into groups manually, otherwise a queen bee will lead a group of worker bees to leave the hive and fly away, resulting in the loss of the bee colony. Beekeepers use artificial methods to produce royal jelly, which is actually to artificially make some royal cells and put them in the beehive for the queen bee to lay eggs. When the larvae are hatched and the worker bees are fed with royal jelly, the beekeeper will take out the royal jelly. In fact, the beekeeper is using a trick, which shows that even smart little bees can be deceived.

Bees don't like the smell of gasoline.

Bees are most afraid of foam because their wings will fall off once they get foam because they are too heavy.

In a highway accident in the United States, the bee-carrier overturned and 8 million bees surged out in an instant. The driver escaped because of gasoline.

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All bees feed on pollen and nectar. Nectar can be converted into honey in the digestive tract. All female honey has a sting. Bees and large bees (a larger, rounder bee with black body) are insects, but most of this species live alone, some live in the honeycombs of other bees and get food from other bees. The typical group of bees has a queen that lays eggs, a female bee that has not developed gender evolution, and many drones that can give birth to them.

Depending on the species, the number of worker bees is generally in the range of 12 to 50,000. They collect nectar and pollen. If they are bees, they will also transport nectar and pollen to specific places, which must be obtained by dancing special and strict dances. Their responsibilities include making honey, making nests of waxed bees, which are for food storage and larvae residence, and taking care of bees and queens and expanding the nest. Bees are a perennial group. New queens will be constantly raised. Old queens and a group of worker bees leave the hive and go somewhere else to rebuild a home. Bees are very useful. Because they can also act like insects that transfer pollen to plants.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : When the weather is cold, the external temperature of the bee ball is lower than that of the ball. At this time, the bees on the surface of the ball are drilled towards the ball, while the bees on the ball are transferred outwards. They take care of each other, constantly exchange positions repeatedly to survive the cold winter. How do they feed the honey stored in the bee chamber during the wintering period? Smart little bees have their own tricks. They do not need to disband the ball and climb out to get food, but obtain food by passing on each other. This can keep the temperature in the ball unchanged or less changing, so as to facilitate safe wintering.

Bees belong to the Hymenoptera and the Bee family. They have to go through four insect states: eggs, larvae, pupa and adults in their lifetime.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Apis cerana Fabr. and A. mellifera L. are both commonly raised beneficial insects. During the breeding process, after the new queen bee is born, it must be divided into groups manually, otherwise a queen bee will lead a group of worker bees to leave the hive and fly away, resulting in the loss of the bee colony. Beekeepers use artificial methods to produce royal jelly, which is actually to artificially make some royal cells and put them in the beehive for the queen bee to lay eggs. When the larvae are hatched and the worker bees are fed with royal jelly, the beekeeper will take out the royal jelly. In fact, the beekeeper is using a trick, which shows that even smart little bees can be deceived.

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