Types of bees and their characteristics. General structure of the bee and description of individual parts of its body

• An aerodrome is a device used by beekeepers when shaking out bees. Helps the bees to enter the hive from the ground
• Bribe - the amount of honey brought by bees in 1 day
• Foundation is a thin plate of wax inserted into a frame by the beekeeper to make it easier for the bees to build the honeycomb. "Foundation" of the future sushi
• Smoker - a device used to pacify bees with smoke
• Zabrus - honey mixed with wax honeycomb lids, subject to further processing
• Winter club - the state of the bee colony during the winter, when the bees do not sleep, but are in a less mobile state, huddled together, keeping vitality and warmth.
• A log (or beehive) is a beehive used in ancient times to keep bees. It is a hollow tree trunk
• Shop - the body of the hive, which is placed on top. The bees fill it exclusively with honey.
• Honey extractor - a device for pumping honey. Thanks to centrifugal force, honey is pumped out of the honeycomb
• Honey collection - the period of honey collection by bees. There is a main one, a supporting one, etc. The main one is when the bees bring the most bribe (honey)
• Napryk - nectar that bees have put in honeycombs, fermented and dried to turn it into honey
• The nucleus is a small hive that serves to keep a number of bees and a young queen before fertilization. It is used for breeding families and in uterine breeding
• Pollen - an accumulation of pollen collected by a bee on its hind legs
• Signet is a method of covering honeycombs with bees. Varies in different breeds, it is wet and dry depending on whether the honey touches the wax caps or not.
• PZhVM is a product of the vital activity of a wax moth
• The bee colony is a structural unit of the bee society. Honey bees live only in families. Family includes worker bees, drones and only one queen
• Pollen is an accumulation of pollen grains from seed plants
• Pollen collector (pollen catcher) - a device for collecting pollen from honey bees
• Swing is jarg. Period of pumping honey out of frames by the beekeeper
• Printout - removal of wax lids from honeycomb cells for honey removal in centrifuges-honey extractors
• Brood - eggs, open or closed with wax lids, larvae of worker bees and drones
• PP - dividing lattice, serves to restrict the movement of the uterus along the bodies and shops
• Dry - a frame with lined honeycombs. The name comes from the fact that the frames, after pumping honey, are usually dried indoors.
• A drone is a male insect whose vital task is to fertilize a young uterus
• SCI - quiet queen change - natural replacement by bees of the old queen with a new one, without swarming,
• The street is the distance between 2 frames. The concept is used when buying and selling frame bee packages or hives, when they indicate how many streets are occupied by bees. Frames in a package are always 1 less than streets

Most likely, even in childhood, each of us asked such a question, what is the difference between a wasp and a bee, a hornet from a bumblebee, a fly from a cockroach, and the like. Today, we intend to analyze in our review two species of Hymenoptera, which, despite the fact that they belong to the same taxonomic group, are in fact almost two opposites, like the signs of "plus" and "minus".

So, let's talk about how a bee differs from a wasp, how to distinguish a wasp sting from a bee sting, and much more about these two canonical hymenoptera species.

External differences

It must be said that from some distance it is not always possible to say with certainty what kind of insect is flying, a bee or a wasp. Still, both species (and in this review we will consider and compare exactly the species, using the common wasp and the honey bee as an example) belong to the same order of Hymenoptera, and naturally, they cannot differ in the same way that a grasshopper differs from a butterfly.

Stinging insects.

But, in fact, these two types of insects do have much more different than in common. And this statement applies to both their essence and lifestyle, and external characteristics.

So, what is the difference between wasps and bees.

Let's list the main differences, and these include:

• body shape;
• the thickness of the transition between the thoracic segment and the abdomen;
• presence / absence of body hair of insects;
• the thickness of the legs;
• body coloring.

Now let's explain each of the points listed.

A wasp is really distinguished from a bee by a more torpedo-like body. It looks as if it is stricter, its body has an elongated, lean, more pointed shape.

Perhaps one of the main features of all wasps, which distinguishes these insects from others, can be called their so-called "waist", comparison with which has long become a catch phrase. Indeed, in the structure of its body, the predator has a very narrow transition from the thoracic section to the abdomen.

Also, a bee is distinguished from a wasp by the presence of a very noticeable thick hairline, especially on the thoracic segment of the body. On the contrary, the wasp does not have visible hairs on its body, its body is smooth.

Bees have fleshy, so to speak, black legs. In wasps, the limbs are usually yellow, they are also longer and thinner than that of a bee.

And finally, both types of insects have very different body colors, especially the coloring is characteristic hallmark for the wasp. If you look very close at representatives of both species, it is impossible not to identify the striped predator.

Its bright black-and-yellow color, together with a predatory expression of "face", betrays a stinging killer in it much more clearly than a stinging hymenoptera insect, which is also able to stand up for itself, can be identified in a calmer and more comfortable appearance of a bee.

Despite the fact that both species have a gnawing-licking oral apparatus, the wasp still has much more impressive mandibles, which emphasizes the aggressiveness of the species and the focus on fight and attack.

Lifestyle

Bees and wasps share only one mode of existence that is common to most Hymenoptera, including ants and bumblebees. Both the wasp and the bee are social insects, the main life purpose of which is to take care of the hive in bees, and to provide the colony with food and protection in the wasps.

At the same time, nevertheless, there are more differences between these two types than in common. Bees are much more sharpened for taking care of the hive, they tend to invest their whole life on the altar of the safety of the larvae and the uterus.

Wasps, being predators and aggressors, not only protect their colony, larvae and their queen bee from outside encroachments, but they themselves quite often carry out attacks on other social insects, such as bees or ants.

Wasps never attack bumblebees, because this predator cannot cope with such a large enemy, unless it is a hornet. But with bees, wasps arrange real massacres, in which wasps more adapted to aggression often win.

Relationship with a person

There is no doubt that a person's attitude to industrious, useful bees from all sides, and in a significantly to a greater extent aggressive wasps useless for humans varies greatly.

Bees have indeed been used by humans for a long time to obtain such valuable products of their vital activity as honey, propolis, wax; their poison is used in medicine.

The difference between a bee and a wasp.

Even in ancient times, honey was called the food of the gods, noting the amazing combination of its taste properties with such healing properties, as restoration of strength and extension of life.

Propolis and wax are also the most valuable substances that have pronounced antibiotic properties and are widely used in pharmacology for the creation of many medicines.

Bee venom has been used for decades as a therapy for problems with the cardiovascular system, for sleep disorders, treats rheumatic diseases, neuralgia, and generally mobilizes and improves immunity.

What can oppose such a set of wasps? In fact, quite a bit.

If we talk about the whole family as a whole, the same hornets, for example, and many other species of wasps perform the function of cleaners of farmland from many harmful insects and their larvae.

However, to a greater extent, this striped aggressor is associated in humans with a pest, which is also dangerous to health. Wasps often sting for no reason, attack bee hives, they also tend to gnaw holes in the peel of the fruit, thereby spoiling the harvest.

Bite difference

The difference between a bee and a wasp is also manifested in the behavior of representatives of both species when a threat arises.

Indeed, it is common for bees to use their weapons only in the most extreme cases, when the insect is sure that either itself or its hive, which means the larvae and the queen, are in mortal danger. After all, the bee, as you know, dies after stinging the enemy, since its sting always remains at the injection site, and the stinging process itself inflicts injuries incompatible with life on the honey worker.

The wasp, on the other hand, has a different structure of its reduced ovipositor, which it can use many times without any threats to its health.

Also chemical composition the venom of these species of Hymenoptera has some differences, albeit very insignificant. With a bee sting, the allergic reaction of the human body is still somewhat less obvious.

Conclusion

As we could see from what we read, wasps and bees really are, as it were, two opposites.

These two species of Hymenoptera, of course, have some inevitable common features appearance and social lifestyle. But, nevertheless, these are creatures completely different in nature, markedly different from each other both externally and in behavioral characteristics. Just as a person's perception of a domestic dog and a wild wolf differs, the attitude of a beekeeper towards a useful bee and a predatory aggressive wasp can be characterized in the same way.

There is a legend that the devil created the wasps, and God created the bees. Following the legend, it is thanks to the blessing that the bees guard human health, supplying such important and necessary components to many medicines like honey, wax, propolis. Wasps, at least, are classified as useless creatures, and as a maximum, as pests. And, nevertheless, the similarity of these two insects leads to confusion, which we have to figure out.

Appearance

If you ask a child who is in front of him, a wasp or a bee, he is likely to get confused. But adults are often unable to distinguish between a bee and a wasp. And, nevertheless, these insects have many external differences.

Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera of the superfamily Apoidea. They look like this: the body is somewhat rounded, covered with villi. Bee, like many similar insects, has yellow-black stripes on the body, muted color.

Bee

Have wasps there is no strict scientific definition, they include those from the suborder stalk-bellied, which cannot be attributed to bees or ants. Wasps have a long body, which is pulled over the chest. The body of wasps is smooth, without fibers. The color of the wasp is similar to that of the bee - the same stripes, but only bright, noticeable.

Life activity

Bees are laborers by nature. They are ready to work endlessly for the good of the hive. Collecting nectar from flowers, bees produce many useful products that are used in pharmaceuticals and human nutrition. Bees make honeycombs from the wax they produce.

Wasps are not able to develop any useful product; they make their hives from a variety of waste. The food of wasps is quite varied. They do not disdain either fruit or nectar. The diet of wasps also includes delicacies, which include flies and other small insects.

Behavior

In case of danger, bees sting, but only if they are attacked first. In this way, they protect the hive. After the bee has stung, it dies, leaving a sting in the opponent's body. In the family of bees there is a certain hierarchy, the highest level in which is the queen bee. It is her welfare that the worker bees take care of. In winter, all the conditions for a comfortable existence are created for her.

The wasp is a rather aggressive insect. Her characteristic features are importunity and the ability to sting at any moment. In this case, the wasp does not die. In addition to the sting, the wasp uses a jaw apparatus to defend against opponents, which, in principle, is uncharacteristic for insects of its family. The wasp queen spends the winter alone, she has no helpers and guards. Alone, she lays the larvae and builds a nest.

Conclusions site

1. The bee has a more rounded body. The cover has villi, the color is muted. The wasp, on the contrary, has a smooth elongated body and bright colors.
2. Bees produce useful products: wax, honey, propolis. Wasps do not produce any useful foods.
3. Bees are not the first to attack, wasps are predators by nature, they are able to sting for no apparent reason.
4. After the bee stings, it dies. Wasps are capable of stinging multiple times, and in addition they bite using the jaw apparatus.
5. Bees feed exclusively on pollen, while the diet of wasps is more varied.
6. The queen bee is surrounded by the care of other members of the family, while the wasp queen is forced to take care of herself on her own.

There are at least 200,000 species of bees and wasps, of which there are about 6,500 species in the USSR. Among them, the most famous are domesticated (honey) bees, large hornet wasps and some medium and small representatives of this family.

Bees live in large families, consisting of one queen - a highly developed female, several hundred male drones and several tens of thousands of worker bees. The role of the uterus is reduced only to laying eggs. Worker bees take care of the queen, raise offspring, build wax honeycombs, collect pollen, resinous excretions of plants and flower nectar, process it into honey, clean the honeycombs, remove garbage from the hives, protect them from enemies and alien bees, bring water to the hive, they ventilate it in hot weather, prepare the hives for winter, diligently seal the cracks of the hives with propolis. Bees are well oriented in space, clearly determine the time of day; without cargo they fly at a speed of 65 km / h, with cargo - 20-30 km / h.

The body of a bee is covered with a hard cover, it consists of a head, chest and abdomen. The sense organs and the nervous system are concentrated in the head, on its sides there are large protruding eyes, consisting of several thousand small eyes (faceted), on the crown of the head there are three more small simple eyes. On a pair of antennae are the organs of smell and touch.

With two complex and three simple eyes, bees distinguish the shape and color of objects at a distant distance and more clearly than a person. Thanks to their developed sense of smell, they distinguish odorous substances at a dilution of 1: 500, and some at a dilution of 1: 100,000,000. With a complexly arranged proboscis, they lick droplets of nectar in the flowers. The legs consist of several segments, on the last one there are 2 claws for walking on a rough surface and pads for walking on a slippery surface. On the hind legs there are baskets for collecting pollen. The abdomen consists of 6 segments and 2 semirings. Their movable connection provides a decrease or increase in the volume of the abdomen, which is necessary when breathing, collecting honey and nectar. The wax glands are located on the abdominal half rings.

Bees feed on nectar and pollen. At the age of 3-5 days, they fly out of the hives several times a day, circle in the air, looking for young queens, get acquainted with the location of the hives and the entrance, and on the 7-10th day, in warm hours, they make mating flights. The queen bee mates with 6-7 drones in 2-3 departures. Mating takes place at a temperature environment 28 °. Only the uterus has developed genitals. In her abdomen there are two large ovaries with 150 tubules, in which eggs are born and developed. A ripe egg comes to the end of the tube and enters the paired oviduct. At the place of transition to the unpaired oviduct, the spermatic duct opens, where the spermatozoa introduced by the drones during mating are stored. When an egg is laid, a drop of liquid with sperm is released into the cell from the seminal receptacle, which penetrate into the egg through a small opening. One of them merges with the egg nucleus, the rest dissolve in the protoplasm. From fertilized eggs, females develop (queens and worker bees), males - drones develop by laying eggs in drone cells without fertilization.

Within 3 days, a larva without legs and eyes forms from the egg. In the early days, she swims in royal jelly, which is rich in proteins, sugar, fat, mineral salts, vitamins and enzymes. By the 5th day, the mass of the larva increases 190 times; by the end of the 6th day, its mass is 143 mg. During this period, she sheds several times. On the 5-6th day, the larva does not fit in the cell, stops feeding and turns its head towards the exit. The bees seal it with a lid made from a mixture of wax and bee bread. Within 24 hours, it spins a cocoon and after the last molt turns into a pupa with rudiments of organs - wings, legs, sting, head, chest and abdomen. On the 12th day, it turns into an adult bee, gnaws through the cell and leaves it. A worker bee matures at 21 days, a drone at 24 days.

What are the differences between a bee and a wasp? It is difficult to understand what differences between them are. So, let's see what are the differences between the wasp and what the bee does not have.

Wasp is an insect with webbed wings. They are considered to be stalked. The first difference is that she does not have such a thick hairline. They don't collect pollen. They have their own color. Looking at the photo, you can see the yellow, white and black stripes.

The female has a modified sting, which previously served as an ovipositor. But now the sting helps the female to defend herself. Other insects are their food. They prefer spiders. Although they can easily eat solid food. A mature individual feeds not only on nectar, but also on the blood of the victim.

They are divided into 2 types. They can live either alone or in society. A solitary wasp never builds nests. She finds food on earth. It can become a beetle larva, which the insect paralyzes, and then lays eggs. This species is not very numerous.

Mostly there are wasps building nests. The nest can be an ordinary earthen mink, or any house made of clay. Females, paralyzing insects, give them to the larvae to eat.

Burrowing wasps have a special behavior. Their feed includes different insects... The nests are on the stems different plants and the chambers for the larvae are filled with aphids. Individuals can feed the larvae in a special way. They dig a burrow in the ground with an extension at the end. There they lay a pair of caterpillars and lay their eggs. During growth, the larva has food. At a certain stage, it passes into the stage of a cocoon, from which in the future, a full-fledged individual emerges.

The behavior of wasps that lead a semi-social lifestyle is slightly different. The female of this type of wasp finds a pair of caterpillars and carries them to the larval chamber. So, she does until the moment when the larva fully develops. They can chew caterpillars and then feed the larvae with them.

Colonial wasps prefer cell houses. They try to select trees or walls of buildings to create a nest. The cells from which their hive is made resemble ordinary paper. They make them from grass, after chewing on it. Wasps, as well as bees, have subdivisions for work. They have a female laying eggs and workers.

To lay eggs, the uterus builds one cell. In the future, the construction of the remaining cells takes place. When the larvae hatch, she gives them chewed flies as food. When the larvae feed, they secrete saliva, which is then passed on to the adult. Before fully developing, the larva turns into a cocoon. Then she becomes a full-fledged individual. This mostly happens at the end of summer. Some of the wasps fall into a daze in winter, and some die.

Bees also have webbed wings. They have a black body color, with the presence yellow spots... A bee has a stockier body than a wasp and has a thick hairline. Individuals eat only plant foods. It includes pollen and nectar.

To collect pollen, an individual has baskets on its legs, and its body is thick and long hairs. Thus, they can transfer pollen from one flower to another. The wasp does not have such adaptations due to the fact that it does not pollinate plants. Individuals produce various beekeeping products. Beeswax also has useful properties like honey.

Houses

Bees nest in the hollow

A bee house, unlike a wasp house, is simple. These individuals do not build their houses from leaves. They just settle in the hollows of trees. The hive is considered a man-made dwelling for bees. Such a bee house is man-made. Hives and tree hollows are equally well received by bees.

If the wasps have built a nest near your home, it should be removed. If you do not get rid of the nest, then these insects will breed and will not give you rest.

Remember in winter, getting rid of the nest is easier than in summer. In spring and autumn, the houses are empty. If you eliminate them, you will not be hurt.

If you can't wait until autumn, then it is better to get rid of the nest at night. At this time, all the inhabitants are at home and sleeping. During the day, you should not engage in elimination, due to the absence of insects at home. When they return, they will begin to look for their home, and can greatly harm the offender.

You can get rid of a bee hive, but not worth it. Only this species produces useful products. Especially if these are products of wild bees. Wild bees will either fly away and find new house, or they need to be carefully transferred to a new home, while not forgetting the uterus.

Life activity

Bees are great workers. They work all day long so that a lot of benefit is brought into the hive on their part. The houses are carefully selected by them. And if they don't like the chosen house, they are ready to go in search of a new home. They themselves produce wax and other useful products that are important to humans.

As mentioned above, the wasp makes its home from different devices... These can be leaves, twigs, and debris. Wasp food is varied. They can eat not only nectar, but also fruits. A delicacy for wasps is a fly.

Behavior

The bee will not attack first. She will attack at the moment of danger. Once stung, she dies. This is because the sting remains in the opponent. The insect protects its home and womb.

Unlike the bee, wasps have an aggressive character. This insect is annoying and stings when it wants to. It's so easy to get rid of it, you won't be able to get rid of it. Having stung the opponent, she remains alive. The queen hibernates alone. Nobody protects or guards her. She builds a nest on her own, and lays her faces.

A philant, or in other words a bee wolf, is an insect that breeds offspring and hunts alone. This earthy wasp is found all over the world. For honey bee the bee wolf is considered the most dangerous enemy. You can see him in the photo.

The poison, of this individual, first affects the muscles and only then on nervous system... The brain sends signals for movement, but the muscles, under the influence of the poison, cannot respond to it. The poison causes paralysis of the victim.

The bee wolf, grasping the victim, moves its jaws and crumples it. The individual tries to get to the nectar that is in the abdomen of the victim. If nectar flows out of the mouth, then the bee wolf licks it off.

Bee wolf, trying to get to nectar not because of love for it, nectar and honey are poison for its larvae. Before giving the victim to the larva, the wasp gets rid of it.

The bee wolf lays an egg on the victim. The victim remains alive but paralyzed. The larva, appearing, eats it.

If the bee wolf settles near the apiary, then all the bees may die. They will simply fall prey to the wasp.

For humans, this type of wasp is not very scary. Beekeepers catch them with their bare hands.

Let's summarize the differences

• round, without bright color, with many villi;
• can make various useful products;
• will not attack first;
• after being attacked, she dies;
• the uterus is protected.

• in a wasp, on the contrary, the body is elongated, with a bright color, without fibers;
• wasps don't make anything;
• stings the opponent first;
• the wasp will survive multiple attacks;
• the wasp uterus feeds on its own.