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Social Life in Bees SOCIAL LIFE IN BEES CLASS – B.Sc. PART – I(HONS.) PAPER – I BY KUNDAN PATEL GUEST FACULTY DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY B.N. COLLEGE, PATNA INTRODUCTION Social behavior is an instinct in a large variety of animals. Although it has been deeply studied an discussed in higher animals, it has also been seen in some lower groups. Some insects like honey bees and termites have shown an extraordinary organization of various casters and an elaborate form of division of labour. Their colonies and the way their members coordinate with each other is very interesting to study. Sometimes humans and other animals face enmity with these insects but understanding their organizational structure and behavioral pattern certainly help us to better accommodate with them. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL INSECTS There are certain characteristics of social insects which can be summarized as follows:- 1. Reproductive division of labour – usually the queen reproduces almost exclusively while other members of the colony specialize on different tasks 2. Cooperative brood care – social insects tend to brood together indiscriminately of whose offsprings are these 3. Castes – in the ants and termites, there are castes that carry out different functions necessary for the survival of the colony. Depending on the size or age of the insects, they carry different functions. 4. Common nest site - All the types of members share a common nest site DEGREES OF SOCIALITY IN INSECTS 1. Subsocial Insects – these provide limited parental care to their offsprings. E.g. – Giant water bugs 2. Communal Insects – they share a nest site with others of the same generation, usually in a particular stage of life cycle. E.g. – eastern tent caterpillars 3. Quasi-social Insects – they exhibit cooperative care of their young. A single generation shares a common nest. E.g. – certain orchard bees 4. Semi-social Insects – they share offspring-rearing duties with other individuals of the same generation, in a common nest. E.g. – paper wasps 5. Solitary Insects – they do not share nests and there is no parental care of offsprings. BEES AS SOCIAL INSECTS Bees, especially honey bees, have been known for their products like honey, wax, etc. They also play a vital role in nature as pollinators. They have a very effective caste system and division of labour in their hives. Honey bees belong to the order Hymenoptera and genus Apis. Hymenopterans have only a single queen per colony and the males(drones) die after the nuptial flight. They nest in large cavities such as hollowed-out trees and secrete wax to build vertical sheets of hexagonal honey comb, in which they store honey and pollen and also use as shelter. SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES A colony of bees consists of three castes of bees performing different functions:- 1. The Queen bee:- ● It is the fertile female which mates with drones lays eggs ● It does not have stinger ● Generally a single mature queen is present in each hive ● They are nearly 2.5 times longer than worker bees ● They have long tapering abdomen, well proportioned body , short and golden coloured wings ● They possess a curved sting at the tip of the abdomen which is known as ovipositor ● They secrete a pheromone or queen substance from the mandibular glands which inhibits the growth of ovaries of workers and control the activities of all bees within the hive SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES 2. Worker bees:- ● These are also females which make up about 85% of the total hive population ● These are small with short abdomens and have pollen baskets on their hind limbs ● They perform a variety of functions like nursing, helping the queen, cleaning the cells, collecting pollen, etc. ● These are produced by the fertilized eggs laid by the queen ● They repair the cracks in the hive and also maintain the optimum temperature within the hive SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES 3. Drones:- ● These are haploid males which fertilize the eggs ● They do not have stingers ● They do not have food collecting organs so they are totally dependent on worker bees for food ● They are often seen begging for food outside the comb SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BEES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES 1. Swarming and formation of new colony:- ● The queen, several thousand workers and hundreds of drones come out from the old hive and fly to a suitable place to form new colonies ● It occurs during the early summer to avoid the overcrowding in the old hive SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES 2. Nuptial flight and copulation:- ● The queen flies in air with many drones and the copulation takes place with a drone in the air and the queen receives the spermatophores from the drone ● After copulation, the genital parts of the drone are forced out and the drone dies immediately SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES 3. Language of Honey bee(Bee dances):- ● The famous scientist, Karl Von Frisch, discovered the communication mechanism and decoded the language of bees in 1946 ● Bees perform certain rhythmic movements and emit odours that are easily received and responded by other bees ● Two types of dances has been observed in bees:- a. Round dance:- ● A worker bee performs a round dance , turning in a circle, once to left then to right and repeating the same movement for one and half minutes in one place ● It informs that the source of food is less than 100 metres but cannot indicate the direction of the source SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES b. Wagging dance:- ● It is performed when the source is farther away ● The performing bee runs towards the direction straight ahead for a short distance, wagging the abdomen, makes a 360 degree turn towards left, runs ahead once again and turns right. This is repeated for several times ● It indicates both direction and distance of the source of food discovered by worker bees ● The direction of straight run indicates the direction of source and the tempo of dance indicates distance ● These dances are closely watched by other bees in the hive and then they search for the source SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES 4. Construction of hive or comb:- ● The worker bees construct hive with the help of wax secreted from the wax-secreting glands of the abdomen ● They repair the cracks in the hive with propolis, a resinous substance collected by bees from different parts of plants for use as glue) ● A hive has five types of cells – Queen cells, drone cells, worker cells, brood cells and storage cells SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BEES CONCLUSION We can conclude that social life is well established in bees. Their structure and behaviour complement each other. Division of labour is well marked. Bees are economically important to humans in increasing income through apiculture and a better understanding of the structure and behaviour of their colonies would aid in making this industry more eco-friendly. BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES 1. Inveretbrate Zoology – E.L. Jordan & Dr. P.S. Verma 2. Invertebrates – R.L. Kotpal 3. Invertebrates – Janet Moore 4. Animal behavior – John Alcock Thank you.
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