Drinking Nectar

We all know about the importance of honey bees to our planet, but perhaps we are not aware of the consequences of their extinction. 

As pollinators, they are fundamental for the health of ecosystems and food security. They help maintain biodiversity and ensure the production of nutritious food. We are going to tell you about the honey bee mouthparts and how these work to extract the nectar. 

Fig 1. - Bee Sipping Nectar on Flower during Daytime. 

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels.

Looking at the photo, we see five major mouthparts sticking out. In the middle is the Glossa, the honey bee tongue. The Glossa is hairy and used to drink nectar. It is flanked by sensory devices so-called Labial Palpi, which are necessary for tasting and touching. On the outside, we see the so-called Galeae, which forms a tube with the labial palpi already mentioned and together allows honey bees to suck up nectar.

Fig 2. - Honeybee mouth parts | Motic BA40E PlanApo 10X | 

Moticam ProS5 Plus, EasyStitch Pro | Image credit: Willem Cramer

Nectar is a sweet liquid, which mainly consists of fructose, glucose and sucrose. Nectar is often deep in the corolla (the whole of petals). The bee's specialized mouthparts form a complex set. Depending on the family, genus or species, it is more or less long and sharp. The construction of the mouthparts of the bees evolved at the same time as the depth and shape of the corollas. The diversity of the bee tongues is related to the diversity of the flower shapes. Honey bees are bees with long tongues, but they don't have as long tongues as butterflies or hummingbirds. 

The ingestion of liquid food by bees is based on the mechanism of 'viscous dipping'. The Glossa is stretched out and dipped into the nectar. At this stage, the hairs on the Glossa stand up asynchronously and capture the nectar. The erectable hairs can increase the ability to collect nectar. 

Then, when covered with nectar, the glossa retracts to a tube formed from Galeae and Labial Palpi. The nectar is sucked then into the Pharynx. There are ridges on the inner wall of the Galeae, that can reduce friction while drinking. Honey bees can absorb about 1.8 microliters of diluted nectar per second, depending on the concentration and viscosity of the nectar. The mouthparts contain sensory organs that facilitate food intake.

Visit the United Nations website and find out the global actions on World Bee Day.  

Sample: Honeybee mouth parts | Motic BA40E PlanApo 10X | Moticam ProS5 Plus, EasyStitch Pro

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