Editing Bee (section)

==Biology==

[[File:Bee morning glory visitors.webm|thumb|thumbtime=26|Various bees visit a [[morning glory]] flower. A [[Mordellidae|Tumbling flower beetle]] remains in the flower with a bee visitor.]]

===Life cycle===
{{further|Honey bee life cycle}}

The life cycle of a bee, be it a solitary or social species, involves the laying of an egg, the development through several moults of a legless [[larva]], a [[pupa]]tion stage during which the insect undergoes [[Holometabolism|complete metamorphosis]], followed by the emergence of a winged adult. The number of eggs laid by a female during her lifetime can vary from eight or less in some solitary bees, to more than a million in highly social species.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bu_1gmY13FIC&dq=eggs+laid+during+her+lifetime+eight+or+fewer+solitary+million+queens&pg=PA8-IA12 The Bees of the World, Volum 1]</ref> Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate. Like the other members of Hymenoptera bees are [[Haplodiploidy|haplodiploid]]; the sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilized. After mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilized eggs producing female offspring and unfertilized eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no [[diapause]] stage.<ref name=Roubik1992>{{cite book |author=Roubik, David W. |title=Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljlaYMeI6noC |year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42909-2 |page=15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617144437/https://books.google.com/books?id=ljlaYMeI6noC |archive-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The bumblebee lifecycle|url=http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/lifecycle/|publisher=Bumblebee Conservation Trust|access-date=1 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629043439/http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/lifecycle/|archive-date=29 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Learning About Honey Bees |url=http://www.scmidstatebeekeepers.org/honeybeelifecycle.htm |publisher=The South Carolina Mid-State Beekeepers Association |access-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701180422/http://www.scmidstatebeekeepers.org/honeybeelifecycle.htm |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Solitary Bees |url=http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=901 |publisher=National Bee Unit |access-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701202809/http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=901 |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref>

The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.<ref name=Shuckard>{{cite book |author=Shuckard, William Edward |title=British bees: an introduction to the study of the natural history and economy of the bees indigenous to the British Isles |url=https://archive.org/details/britishbeesanin01shucgoog |year=1866 |publisher=L. Reeve & Co. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/britishbeesanin01shucgoog/page/n38 18]–23}}</ref>

In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and [[Spiracle (arthropods)|spiracle]]s in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into a winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the [[exuvia]]e and breaks out of the cell.<ref name=Shuckard/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="125px">
File:Apoidea.jpg|Nest of [[Bombus pascuorum|common carder]] [[bumblebee]], wax canopy removed to show winged [[worker (bee)|workers]] and [[pupae]] in irregularly placed wax cells
File:Carpenter Bee Galleries.jpeg|[[Carpenter bee]] nests in a cedar wood beam (sawn open)
File:Bienen mit Brut 2.jpg|Honeybees on [[brood comb]] with eggs and [[larvae]] in cells
</gallery>

===Flight===
[[File:Apis mellifera flying.jpg|thumb|Honeybee in flight carrying pollen in [[pollen basket]]]]
{{further|Insect flight}}

[[Antoine Magnan]]'s 1934 book {{Lang|fr|Le vol des insectes}} says that he and [[André Sainte-Laguë]] had applied the equations of [[air resistance]] to [[insect]]s and found that their flight could not be explained by fixed-wing calculations, but that "One shouldn't be surprised that the results of the calculations don't square with reality".<ref>Ingram, Jay (2001) ''The Barmaid's Brain'', Aurum Press, pp. 91–92, {{ISBN|0716741202}}.</ref> This has led to a common misconception that bees "violate aerodynamic theory". In fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used by [[helicopter]]s.<ref>{{cite web|author=Adams, Cecil |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1076/is-it-aerodynamically-impossible-for-bumblebees-to-fly |title=Is it aerodynamically impossible for bumblebees to fly? |publisher=The Straight Dope |date=4 May 1990 |access-date=7 March 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090303140245/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1076/is-it-aerodynamically-impossible-for-bumblebees-to-fly| archive-date= 3 March 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref> In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dn8382-secrets-of-bee-flight-revealed.html |title=Life, animal and plant news, articles and features |journal=[[New Scientist]] |date=9 March 2016 |access-date=16 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007163926/http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dn8382-secrets-of-bee-flight-revealed.html |archive-date=7 October 2008}}</ref> High-speed [[cinematography]]<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn8382.avi |title=Images of flight |journal=[[New Scientist]] |access-date=16 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323022150/https://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn8382.avi |archive-date=23 March 2016}}</ref> and robotic mock-up of a bee wing<ref name=caltech>{{cite web|url=https://www.caltech.edu/news/deciphering-mystery-bee-flight-1075|title=Deciphering the Mystery of Bee Flight|publisher=[[California Institute of Technology]]|date=29 November 2005|access-date=8 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917023603/https://www.caltech.edu/news/deciphering-mystery-bee-flight-1075|archive-date=17 September 2016}} Re: work of [[Michael Dickinson (biologist)|Dr. Michael H. Dickinson]].</ref> showed that lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency". Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small [[arc (geometry)|arc]], it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a [[Drosophilidae|fruitfly]] (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Altshuler, Douglas L. |author2=Dickson, William B. |author3=Vance, Jason T. |author4=Roberts, Stephen P. |author5=Dickinson, Michael H. |title=Short-amplitude high-frequency wing strokes determine the aerodynamics of honeybee flight |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=102 |issue=50 |pages=18213–18218 |year=2005 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0506590102 |pmid=16330767 |pmc=1312389|bibcode=2005PNAS..10218213A |doi-access=free }}</ref>
<!--temperature regulation - bees need to warm up for flight...-->

===Navigation, communication, and finding food===
[[File:Bee_dance.svg|thumb|upright|[[Karl von Frisch]] (1953) discovered that honey bee workers can [[animal navigation|navigate]], indicating the range and direction to food to other workers with a [[waggle dance]].]]
{{further|Animal navigation|Waggle dance}}

The ethologist [[Karl von Frisch]] studied [[animal navigation|navigation]] in the honey bee. He showed that honey bees communicate by the [[waggle dance]], in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the Sun, by the [[Polarization (waves)|polarization]] pattern of the blue sky, and by the Earth's magnetic field. He showed that the Sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark [[beehive]].<ref name=vonFrisch93>{{cite book |last=von Frisch |first=Karl |title=The Dancing Bees |year=1953 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World | pages=93–96}}</ref> Bees navigate using [[spatial memory]] with a "rich, map-like organization".<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Menzel, Randolf |author2=Greggers, Uwe |author3=Smith, Alan |author4=Berger, Sandra |author5=Brandt, Robert |author6=Brunke, Sascha |author7=Bundrock, Gesine |author8=Hülse, Sandra |author9=Plümpe, Tobias |author10=Schaupp, Schaupp |author11=Schüttler, Elke |author12=Stach, Silke |author13=Stindt, Jan |author14=Stollhoff, Nicola |author15=Watzl, Sebastian |title=Honey bees Navigate According to a Map-Like Spatial Memory |journal=PNAS |year=2005 |volume=102 |issue=8 |pages=3040–3045 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0408550102 |pmid=15710880 |pmc=549458|bibcode=2005PNAS..102.3040M |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Digestion ===
The gut of bees is relatively simple, but multiple metabolic strategies exist in the gut [[microbiota]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171212141506.htm  |title=How honey bee gut bacteria help to digest their pollen-rich diet |website=ScienceDaily |access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> Pollinating bees consume nectar and pollen, which require different digestion strategies by somewhat specialized bacteria. While nectar is a liquid of mostly [[monosaccharide]] sugars and so easily absorbed, pollen contains complex [[polysaccharide]]s: branching [[pectin]] and [[hemicellulose]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://phys.org/news/2019-12-bee-gut-microbes-division-labor.html |title=Bee gut microbes have a division of labor when it comes to metabolizing complex polysaccharides |website=phys.org |access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> Approximately five groups of bacteria are involved in digestion. Three groups specialize in simple sugars (''[[Snodgrassella]]'' and two groups of ''[[Lactobacillus]]''), and two other groups in complex sugars (''[[Gilliamella]]'' and ''[[Bifidobacterium]]''). Digestion of pectin and hemicellulose is dominated by bacterial [[clade]]s ''Gilliamella'' and ''[[Bifidobacterium]]'' respectively. Bacteria that cannot digest polysaccharides obtain enzymes from their neighbors, and bacteria that lack certain amino acids do the same, creating multiple [[ecological niche]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Hao |last2=Perreau |first2=Julie |last3=Powell |first3=J. Elijah |last4=Han |first4=Benfeng |last5=Zhang |first5=Zijing |last6=Kwong |first6=Waldan K. |last7=Tringe |first7=Susannah G. |last8=Moran |first8=Nancy A. |date=December 2019 |title=Division of labor in honey bee gut microbiota for plant polysaccharide digestion |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=116 |issue=51 |pages=25909–25916 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1916224116 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=31776248|pmc=6926048 |bibcode=2019PNAS..11625909Z |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Although most bee species are [[Nectarivore|nectarivorous]] and [[Palynivore|palynivorous]], some are not. Particularly unusual are [[vulture bee]]s in the genus ''[[Trigona]],'' which consume carrion and wasp brood, turning meat into a honey-like substance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mateus |first1=Sidnei |last2=Noll |first2=Fernando B. |date=February 2004 |title=Predatory behavior in a necrophagous bee Trigona hypogea (Hymenoptera; Apidae, Meliponini) |journal=Naturwissenschaften |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=94–96 |doi=10.1007/s00114-003-0497-1 |pmid=14991148 |issn=1432-1904|bibcode=2004NW.....91...94M |s2cid=26518321 }}</ref> Drinking [[guttation]] drops from leaves is also a source of energy and nutrients.<ref>[https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1080 Plant guttation provides nutrient-rich food for insects - Journals]</ref>