A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their nests to contain their brood ( eggs , larvae , and pupae ) and stores of honey and pollen .
85-417: Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about 8.4 lb (3.8 kg) of honey to secrete 1 lb (450 g) of wax, and so beekeepers may return the wax to the hive after harvesting the honey to improve honey outputs. The structure of the comb may be left basically intact when honey is extracted from it by uncapping and spinning in a centrifugal honey extractor . If
170-490: A nauplius , which is characterized by its use of antennae for swimming. Barnacles , a highly modified crustacean, use their antennae to attach to rocks and other surfaces. The second antennae in the burrowing Hippoidea and Corystidae have setae that interlock to form a tube or "snorkel" which funnels filtered water over the gills. Some claim insects evolved from prehistoric crustaceans, and they have secondary antennae like crustaceans, but not primary antennae. Antennae are
255-419: A smoker , a device that generates smoke from the incomplete combustion of fuels. Although the exact mechanism is disputed, it is said smoke calms bees. Some claim it initiates a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to fire. It is also thought smoke masks alarm pheromones released by guard bees or bees that are squashed in an inspection. The ensuing confusion creates an opportunity for
340-419: A host plant's taste and odor. After the desired taste and odor has been identified, the female moth will deposit her eggs onto the plant. Giant swallowtail butterflies also rely on antenna sensitivity to volatile compounds to identify host plants. It was found that females are actually more responsive with their antenna sensing, most likely because they are responsible for oviposition on the correct plant. In
425-440: A raised portion of the insect's head capsule. The socket is closed off by the membrane into which the base of the scape is set. However, the antenna does not hang free on the membrane, but pivots on a rigidly sprung projection from the rim of the torulus. That projection on which the antenna pivots is called the antennifer . The whole structure enables the insect to move the antenna as a whole by applying internal muscles connected to
510-425: A regular comb, deviations of a few percent from the "perfect" hexagonal shape occur. In transition zones between the larger cells of drone comb and the smaller cells of worker comb, or when the bees encounter obstacles, the shapes are often distorted. Cells are also angled up about 13° from horizontal to prevent honey from dripping out. In 1965, László Fejes Tóth discovered that the trihedral pyramidal shape (which
595-666: A safer, more convenient alternative. It is a water-based solution that is sprayed onto the bees from a plastic spray bottle. A spray of clean water can also be used to encourage bees to move on. Torpor may also be induced by the introduction of chilled air into the hive, while chilled carbon dioxide may have harmful, long-term effects. Few anecdotal stories of using the smoke from burning fungi in England or Europe for centuries have been published. Several more recent studies describe anaesthesia of honeybees use of smoke from burning fungi. The fungi reported to have been used to smoke bees are
680-452: A sliding frame design. The AZ Hive, the original sliding frame design, integrates hives using Langstroth-sized frames into a honey house to streamline the workflow of honey harvest by localization of labor, similar to cellular manufacturing . The honey house can be a portable trailer, allowing the beekeeper to move hives to a site and provide pollination services. Top-bar stackable hives use top bars instead of full frames. The most common type
765-536: A system of high-status apiculture that is evidenced by the finds of hives, smoking pots, honey extractors and other beekeeping paraphernalia in Knossos . Beekeeping was considered a highly valued industry controlled by beekeeping overseers—owners of gold rings depicting apiculture scenes rather than religious ones as they have been reinterpreted recently, contra Sir Arthur Evans . Aspects of the lives of bees and beekeeping are discussed at length by Aristotle . Beekeeping
850-468: A unit, in spite of being articulated. However, some funicles are complex and very mobile. For example, the Scarabaeidae have lamellate antennae that can be folded tightly for safety or spread openly for detecting odours or pheromones . The insect manages such actions by changes in blood pressure, by which it exploits elasticity in walls and membranes in the funicles, which are in effect erectile. In
935-418: A vapor or "miasma" emanating from the drones fertilized queens without physical contact. Huber was the first to prove by observation and experiment that drones physically inseminate queens outside the confines of the hive, usually a great distance away. Following Réaumur's design, Huber built improved glass-walled observation hives and sectional hives that could be opened like the leaves of a book. This allowed
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#17327835766171020-705: Is a single-story, frameless beehive in which the comb hangs from removable bars that form a continuous roof over the comb, whereas the frames in most current hives allow space for bees to move between boxes. Hives that have frames or that use honey chambers in summer and use management principles similar to those of regular top-bar hives are sometimes also referred to as top-bar hives. Top-bar hives are rectangular and are typically more than twice as wide as multi-story framed hives commonly found in English-speaking countries. Top-bar hives usually include one box and allow for beekeeping methods that interfere very little with
1105-461: Is commonly given as between 6 and 9 mm (0.24 and 0.35 in), though up to 15 mm (0.59 in) has been found in populations in Ethiopia. Langstroth then designed a series of wooden frames within a rectangular hive box, carefully maintaining the correct space between successive frames. He found the bees would build parallel honeycombs in the box without bonding them to each other or to
1190-530: Is composed of three rhombi ) used by the honeybee is not the theoretically optimal three-dimensional geometry. A cell end composed of two hexagons and two smaller rhombi would actually be .035% (or about one part per 2850) more efficient. This difference is too minute to measure on an actual honeycomb, and irrelevant to the hive economy in terms of efficient use of wax, considering wild comb varies considerably from any mathematical notion of "ideal" geometry. Bees use their antennae , mandibles and legs to manipulate
1275-423: Is considered segmented if each of the annuli is separate from those around it and has individual muscle attachments. Flagellate antennae, on the other hand, have muscle attachments only around the base, acting as a hinge for the flagellum —a flexible string of annuli with no muscle attachment. There are several notable non-sensory uses of antennae in crustaceans. Many crustaceans have a mobile larval stage called
1360-1004: Is often used for crop pollination and the collection of its byproducts, such as wax and propolis . The largest beekeeping operations are agricultural businesses but many small beekeeping operations are run as a hobby . As beekeeping technology has advanced, beekeeping has become more accessible, and urban beekeeping was described as a growing trend as of 2016. Some studies have found city-kept bees are healthier than those in rural settings because there are fewer pesticides and greater biodiversity in cities. At least 10,000 years ago, humans began to attempt to maintain colonies of wild bees in artificial hives made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets known as skeps . Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 10,000 years ago. Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa. Traces of beeswax have been found in potsherds throughout
1445-663: Is referred to as meliponiculture , which is named after bees of the tribe Meliponini such as Melipona quadrifasciata in Brazil. This variation of beekeeping still occurs today. For instance, in Australia , the stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria is kept for the production of honey. European natural philosophers began to scientifically study bee colonies in the 18th century. Eminent among these scientists were Swammerdam , René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur , Charles Bonnet and François Huber . Swammerdam and Réaumur were among
1530-403: Is regarded as "the father of modern bee-science" and his work Nouvelles Observations sur Les Abeilles (New Observations on Bees) revealed all of the basic scientific facts of the biology and ecology of honeybees. Before the invention of the movable comb hive, the harvesting of honey frequently resulted in the destruction of the whole colony. The wild hive was broken into using smoke to quieten
1615-556: Is the Warre hive, although any hive with hanging frames can be converted into a top-bar stackable hive by using only the top bar rather than the whole frame. This may work less well with larger frames, where crosscomb and attachment can occur more readily. Most beekeepers wear some protective clothing. Novice beekeepers usually wear gloves and a hooded suit or hat and veil. Experienced beekeepers sometimes choose not to use gloves because they inhibit delicate manipulations. The face and neck are
1700-673: Is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives . Honey bees in the genus Apis are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as Melipona stingless bees are also kept. Beekeepers (or apiarists) keep bees to collect honey and other products of the hive: beeswax , propolis , bee pollen , and royal jelly . Other sources of beekeeping income include pollination of crops, raising queens , and production of package bees for sale. Bee hives are kept in an apiary or "bee yard". The keeping of bees by humans, primarily for honey production, began around 10,000 years ago. A sample of 5,500-year-old honey
1785-479: The Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. They are important for insects like ants that follow scent trails, for bees and wasps that need to "sniff" the flowers that they visit, and for beetles such as Scarabaeidae and Curculionidae that need to fold their antennae away when they self-protectively fold up all their limbs in defensive attitudes. Because the funicle is without intrinsic muscles, it generally must move as
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#17327835766171870-585: The Hexapoda , both Collembola and Diplura have antenna, but Protura do not. Antennal fibrillae play an important role in Culex pipiens mating practices. The erection of these fibrillae is considered to be the first stage in reproduction. These fibrillae serve different functions across the sexes. As antennal fibrillae are used by female C. pipiens to locate hosts to feed on, male C. pipiens utilize them to locate female mates. The three basic segments of
1955-779: The Jordan Valley , Israel. Thirty intact hives made of straw and unbaked clay were discovered in the ruins of the city, dating from about 900 BCE, by archaeologist Amihai Mazar . The hives were found in orderly rows, three high, in a manner that according to Mazar could have accommodated around 100 hives, held more than one million bees and had a potential annual yield of 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of honey and 70 kilograms (150 lb) of beeswax, and are evidence an advanced honey industry in Tel Rehov , Israel 3,000 years ago. In ancient Greece , in Crete and Mycenae , there existed
2040-442: The antennal lobe in the brain . From there, neurons in the antennal lobes connect to mushroom bodies that identify the odour. The sum of the electrical potentials of the antennae to a given odour can be measured using an electroantennogram . In the monarch butterfly , antennae are necessary for proper time-compensated solar compass orientation during migration. Antennal clocks exist in monarchs, and they are likely to provide
2125-907: The chelicerates and proturans , which have none, all non-crustacean arthropods have a single pair of antennae. Crustaceans bear two pairs of antennae. The pair attached to the first segment of the head are called primary antennae or antennules . This pair is generally uniramous, but is biramous in crabs and lobsters and remipedes . The pair attached to the second segment are called secondary antennae or simply antennae . The second antennae are plesiomorphically biramous, but many species later evolved uniramous pairs. The second antennae may be significantly reduced (e.g. remipedes) or apparently absent (e.g. barnacles ). The subdivisions of crustacean antennae have many names, including flagellomeres (a shared term with insects), annuli, articles, and segments. The terminal ends of crustacean antennae have two major categorizations: segmented and flagellate. An antenna
2210-477: The dihedral angles of all adjacent surfaces measuring 120°, the angle that minimizes surface area for a given volume. (The angle formed by the edges at the pyramidal apex, known as the tetrahedral angle , is approximately 109° 28' 16" ( = arccos(−1/3) ) The shape of the cells is such that two opposing honeycomb layers nest into each other, with each facet of the closed ends being shared by opposing cells. Individual cells do not show this geometric perfection: in
2295-513: The 19th century, changes in beekeeping practice were completed through the development of the movable comb hive by the American Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth , who was the first person to make practical use of Huber's earlier discovery of a specific spatial distance between the wax combs, later called the bee space , which bees do not block with wax but keep as a free passage. Having determined this bee space, which
2380-453: The 19th century, improvements were made in the design and production of beehives, systems of management and husbandry, stock improvement by selective breeding , honey extraction and marketing. Notable innovators of modern beekeeping include: Petro Prokopovych used frames with channels in the side of the woodwork; these were packed side-by-side in stacked boxes. Bees traveled between frames and boxes via these channels, which were similar to
2465-494: The 20th century and is still kept in some areas. The Langstroth and Dadant designs, however, remain ubiquitous in the U.S. and in many parts of Europe, though Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and Italy all have their own national hive designs. Regional variations of hive were developed according to climate, floral productivity and reproductive characteristics of the subspecies of native honey bees in each bio-region. The differences in hive dimensions are insignificant in comparison to
2550-535: The British National, Dadant, Layens, and Rose, which differ in size and number of frames. The Langstroth was the first successful top-opened hive with movable frames. Many other hive designs are based on the principle of bee space that was first described by Langstroth, and is a descendant of Jan Dzierzon's Polish hive designs. Langstroth hives are the most-common size in the United States and much of
2635-552: The Middle East beginning about 7,000 BCE. Domestication of bees is shown in Egyptian art from around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used, and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun . In the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the movable comb hive so honey could be harvested without destroying
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2720-492: The Natural History of Bees . L. L. Langstroth has influenced modern beekeeping practice more than anyone else. His book The Hive and Honey-bee was published in 1853. Moses Quinby , author of Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained , invented the bee smoker in 1873. Amos Root , author of the A B C of Bee Culture , which has been continuously revised and remains in print, pioneered the manufacture of hives and
2805-674: The United States. Classic designs evolved in each country; Dadant hives and Langstroth hives are still dominant in the U.S.; in France the De-Layens trough hive became popular, in the UK a British National hive became standard by the 1930s, although in Scotland the smaller Smith hive is still popular. In some Scandinavian countries and in Russia, the traditional trough hive persisted until late in
2890-570: The arthropod to a substrate . Larval arthropods have antennae that differ from those of the adult. Many crustaceans, for example, have free-swimming larvae that use their antennae for swimming. Antennae can also locate other group members if the insect lives in a group, like the ant . The common ancestor of all arthropods likely had one pair of uniramous (unbranched) antenna-like structures, followed by one or more pairs of biramous (having two major branches) leg-like structures, as seen in some modern crustaceans and fossil trilobites . Except for
2975-416: The bee space and the development of his patent movable comb hive. The invention and development of the movable comb hive enabled the growth of large-scale, commercial honey production in both Europe and the U.S. Langstroth's design of movable comb hives was adopted by apiarists and inventors in both North America and Europe, and a wide range of moveable comb hives were developed in England, France, Germany and
3060-712: The beekeeper to open the hive and work without triggering a defensive reaction. Many types of fuel can be used in a smoker as long as it is natural and not contaminated with harmful substances. Common fuels include hessian , twine , pine needles, corrugated cardboard, and rotten or punky wood. Indian beekeepers, especially in Kerala, often use coconut fibers, which are readily available, safe, and cheap. Some beekeeping supply sources also sell commercial fuels like pulped paper, compressed cotton and aerosol cans of smoke. Other beekeepers use sumac as fuel because it ejects much smoke and lacks an odor. Some beekeepers use "liquid smoke" as
3145-447: The bees could be separately preserved at the harvest the following season. Wildman also described the use of hives with "sliding frames" in which the bees would build their comb. Wildman's book acknowledges the advances in knowledge of bees made by Swammerdam, Maraldi, and de Réaumur—he includes a lengthy translation of Réaumur's account of the natural history of bees. Wildman also describes the initiatives of others in designing hives for
3230-414: The bees. The oldest evidence of their use dates to 1669, although it is probable their use is more than 3,000 years old. Intermediate stages in the transition from older methods of beekeeping were recorded in 1768 by Thomas Wildman, who described advances over the destructive, skep-based method so bees no longer had to be killed to harvest their honey. Wildman fixed an array of parallel wooden bars across
3315-402: The bees. The honeycombs were pulled out and either immediately eaten whole or crushed, along with the eggs, larvae, and honey they held. A sieve or basket was used to separate the liquid honey from the demolished brood nest. In medieval times in northern Europe, although skeps and other containers were made to house bees, the honey and wax were still extracted after the bee colony was killed. This
3400-408: The boundary shapes created in a field of soap bubbles . In support of this, he notes that queen cells, which are constructed singly, are irregular and lumpy with no apparent attempt at efficiency. The closed ends of the honeycomb cells are also an example of geometric efficiency, though three- dimensional . The ends are trihedral (i.e., composed of three planes) sections of rhombic dodecahedra , with
3485-594: The brood-box and honey supers to keep the queen from laying eggs in cells next to those containing honey intended for consumption. With the 20th-century advent of mite pests, hive floors are often replaced, either temporarily or permanently, with a wire mesh and a removable tray. In 2015, the Flow Hive system was invented in Australia by Cedar Anderson and his father Stuart Anderson, whose design allows honey to be extracted without cumbersome centrifuge equipment. In
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3570-400: The colony. While conventional advice often recommends inspecting each colony each week during the warmer months, some beekeepers fully inspect top-bar hives only once a year, and only one comb needs to be lifted at a time. There are three types of vertical stackable hives: hanging or top-access frame, sliding or side-access frame, and top bar. Hanging-frame hive designs include Langstroth,
3655-412: The common factors in these hives: they are all square or rectangular; they all use movable wooden frames; and they all consist of a floor, brood-box, honey super , crown-board and roof. Hives have traditionally been constructed from cedar, pine or cypress wood but in recent years, hives made from injection-molded, dense polystyrene have become increasingly common. Hives also use queen excluders between
3740-609: The cost of coloring is an expense not warranted for workwear, though some consider this to provide better differentiation from the colony's natural predators such as bears and skunks, which tend to be dark-colored. It is now known bees see in ultraviolet wavelengths and are also attracted to scent. The type of fabric conditioner used has more impact than the color of the fabric. Stings that are retained in clothing fabric continue to pump out an alarm pheromone that attracts aggressive action and further stinging attacks. Attraction can be minimized with regular washing. Most beekeepers use
3825-607: The crepuscular hawk moth ( Manduca sexta ), antennae aid in flight stabilization. Similar to halteres in Dipteran insects, the antennae transmit coriolis forces through the Johnston's organ that can then be used for corrective behavior. A series of low-light, flight stability studies in which moths with flagellae amputated near the pedicel showed significantly decreased flight stability over those with intact antennae. To determine whether there may be other antennal sensory inputs,
3910-417: The cutouts in the sides of modern wooden sections. Jan Dzierżon ' beehive design has influenced modern beehives. François Huber made significant discoveries about the bee life cycle and communication between bees. Despite being blind, Huber discovered a large amount of information about the queen bee's mating habits and her contact with the rest of the hive. His work was published as New Observations on
3995-532: The distribution of bee packages in the United States. A. J. Cook author of The Bee-Keepers' Guide; or Manual of the Apiary , 1876. Dr. C.C. Miller was one of the first entrepreneurs to make a living from apiculture. By 1878, he made beekeeping his sole business activity. His book, Fifty Years Among the Bees , remains a classic and his influence on bee management persists into the 21st century. Franz Hruschka
4080-537: The efficiency of honey harvesting and catalyzed the modern honey industry. Walter T. Kelley was an American pioneer of modern beekeeping in the early-and mid-20th century. He greatly improved upon beekeeping equipment and clothing, and went on to manufacture these items and other equipment. His company sold products worldwide and his book How to Keep Bees & Sell Honey , encouraged a boom in beekeeping following World War II . Cary W. Hartman (1859–1947), lecturer, well known beekeeping enthusiast and honey promoter
4165-668: The entire colony. Honeybees were kept in Egypt from antiquity. On the walls of the sun temple of Nyuserre Ini from the Fifth Dynasty before 2,422 BCE, workers are depicted blowing smoke into hives as they remove honeycombs . Inscriptions detailing the production of honey are found on the tomb of Pabasa from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty c. 650 BCE , in which cylindrical hives are depicted along with people pouring honey into jars. An inscription records
4250-494: The first one or two segments of the arthropod head. They vary widely in form but are always made of one or more jointed segments. While they are typically sensory organs , the exact nature of what they sense and how they sense it is not the same in all groups. Functions may variously include sensing touch , air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially smell or taste . Antennae are sometimes modified for other purposes, such as mating, brooding, swimming, and even anchoring
4335-434: The first to use a microscope and dissection to understand the internal biology of honey bees. Réaumur was among the first to construct a glass-walled observation hive to better observe activities inside hives. He observed queens laying eggs in open cells but did not know how queens were fertilized; the mating of a queen and drone had not yet been observed and many theories held queens were " self-fertile " while others believed
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#17327835766174420-457: The flagellum. Such groups include the Symphyla , Collembola and Diplura . In many true insects, especially the more primitive groups such as Thysanura and Blattodea , the flagellum partly or entirely consists of a flexibly connected string of small ring-shaped annuli . The annuli are not true flagellomeres, and in a given insect species the number of annuli generally is not as consistent as
4505-519: The funicle is taken to comprise the segments between the club and the pedicel. Quite commonly the funicle beyond the pedicel is quite complex in Endopterygota such as beetles, moths and Hymenoptera , and one common adaptation is the ability to fold the antenna in the middle, at the joint between the pedicel and the flagellum. This gives an effect like a "knee bend", and such an antenna is said to be geniculate . Geniculate antennae are common in
4590-516: The groups with more uniform antennae (for example: millipedes ), all segments are called antennomeres . Some groups have a simple or variously modified apical or subapical bristle called an arista (this may be especially well-developed in various Diptera ). Olfactory receptors on the antennae bind to free-floating molecules, such as water vapour , and odours including pheromones . The neurons that possess these receptors signal this binding by sending action potentials down their axons to
4675-460: The hive walls. This enables the beekeeper to slide any frame out of the hive for inspection without harming the bees or the comb; and protecting the eggs, larvae and pupae in the cells. It also meant combs containing honey could be gently removed and the honey extracted without destroying the comb. The emptied honeycombs could then be returned intact to the bees for refilling. Langstroth's book The Hive and Honey-bee (1853), describes his rediscovery of
4760-408: The hive, especially on top of the frames. They are also used to separate the frames before lifting out of the hive. Some beekeepers believe pain and irritation from stings decreases if a beekeeper receives more stings, and they consider it important for safety of the beekeeper to be stung a few times a season. Beekeepers have high levels of antibodies, mainly Immunoglobulin G , caused by a reaction to
4845-399: The honey and wax – and the gardeners know too. Whoever comes in the future, may he ask the old men of the town, (who will say) thus: "They are the buildings of Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu, who introduced honey bees into the land of Suhu". The oldest archaeological finds directly relating to beekeeping have been discovered at Rehov , a Bronze and Iron Age archaeological site in
4930-406: The honey is being spread on bread rather than used in cooking or as a sweetener. Broodcomb becomes dark over time, due to empty cocoons and shed larval skins embedded in the cells, alongside being walked over constantly by other bees, resulting in what is referred to as a 'travel stain' by beekeepers when seen on frames of comb honey. Honeycomb in the " supers " that are not used for brood (e.g. by
5015-415: The honeycomb is too worn out, the wax can be reused in a number of ways, including making sheets of comb foundation with a hexagonal pattern. Such foundation sheets allow the bees to build the comb with less effort, and the hexagonal pattern of worker -sized cell bases discourages the bees from building the larger drone cells. Fresh, new comb is sometimes sold and used intact as comb honey , especially if
5100-412: The inspection of individual wax combs and greatly improved direct observation of hive activity. Although he went blind before he was twenty, Huber employed a secretary named François Burnens to make daily observations, conduct experiment and keep accurate notes for more than twenty years. Huber confirmed a hive consists of one queen, who is the mother of every female worker and male drone in the colony. He
5185-514: The introduction of honey bees into the land of Suhum in Mesopotamia , where they were previously unknown: I am Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu and the land of Mari . Bees that collect honey, which none of my ancestors had ever seen or brought into the land of Suhu, I brought down from the mountain of the men of Habha, and made them settle in the orchards of the town 'Gabbari-built-it'. They collect honey and wax, and I know how to melt
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#17327835766175270-611: The major antigen of bee venom , phospholipase A2 (PLA). Antibodies correlate with the frequency of bee stings. The entry of venom into the body from bee stings may be hindered and reduced by protective clothing that allows the wearer to remove stings and venom sacs with a simple tug on the clothing. Although the stinger is barbed, a worker bee's stinger is less likely to become lodged into clothing than human skin. Antenna (biology) Antennae ( sg. : antenna ), sometimes referred to as "feelers", are paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods . Antennae are connected to
5355-423: The most important areas to protect, so most beekeepers wear at least a veil. Defensive bees are attracted to the breath; a sting on the face can lead to much more pain and swelling than a sting elsewhere, while a sting on a bare hand can usually be quickly removed by fingernail scrape to reduce the amount of venom injected. Traditionally, beekeeping clothing is pale-colored because of the natural color of cotton and
5440-421: The number of flagellomeres in most species. In many beetles and in the chalcidoid wasps , the apical flagellomeres form a club shape, called the clava . The collective term for the segments between the club and the antennal base is the funicle ; traditionally in describing beetle anatomy, the term "funicle" refers to the segments between the club and the scape . However, traditionally in working on wasps
5525-431: The open end higher than the back end. The open end of a cell is typically referred to as the top of the cell, while the opposite end is called the bottom. The cells slope slightly upwards, between 9 and 14°, towards the open ends. Two possible explanations exist as to why honeycomb is composed of hexagons rather than any other shape. First, the hexagonal tiling creates a partition with equal-sized cells, while minimizing
5610-447: The placement of a queen excluder ) stays light-colored. Numerous wasps , especially Polistinae and Vespinae , construct hexagonal prism-packed combs made of paper instead of wax; in some species (such as Brachygastra mellifica ), honey is stored in the nest, thus technically forming a paper honeycomb. However, the term "honeycomb" is not often used for such structures. The axes of honeycomb cells are always nearly horizontal, with
5695-527: The preservation of bees when taking the harvest, citing reports from Brittany in the 1750s due to the Comte de la Bourdonnaye. Another hive design was invented by Rev. John Thorley in 1744; the hive was placed in a bell jar that was screwed onto a wicker basket. The bees were free to move from the basket to the jar, and honey was produced and stored in the jar. The hive was designed to keep the bees from swarming as much as they would have in other hive designs. In
5780-414: The primary olfactory sensors of insects and are accordingly well-equipped with a wide variety of sensilla (singular: sensillum ). Paired, mobile, and segmented, they are located between the eyes on the forehead. Embryologically, they represent the appendages of the second head segment. All insects have antennae, however they may be greatly reduced in the larval forms. Amongst the non-insect classes of
5865-482: The primary timing mechanism for sun compass orientation. In the African cotton leafworm , antennae have an important function in signaling courtship. Specifically, antennae are required for males to answer the female mating call. Although females do not require antennae for mating, a mating that resulted from a female without antennae was abnormal. In the diamondback moth , antennae serve to gather information about
5950-511: The puffballs Lycoperdon gigantium, L. wahlbergii and the conks, Fomes fomentarius and F. igiarius. When fungi are burned, the characteristic smell is due to the pyrolysis of the keratin cell wall of fungi. Besides being a major fungi constituent, keratin is found in animal tissues, such as hair or feathers. Anaesthesia experiments done using smoke from pyrolysis of L. wahlbergii, human hair and chicken feathers showed no difference in long-term mortality of anesthetized honeybees and non-treated bees in
6035-537: The same hive. Hydrogen sulphide was identified as the major combustion product that is responsible for putting the bees to sleep. Note – hydrogen sulphide is toxic to humans at high concentrations. Most beekeepers use a hive tool when working on their hives. The two main types are the American hive tool; and the Australian hive tool often called a 'frame lifter'. They are used to scrape off burr-comb from around
6120-514: The scape. The pedicel is flexibly connected to the distal end of the scape and its movements in turn can be controlled by muscular connections between the scape and pedicel. The number of flagellomeres can vary greatly between insect species, and often is of diagnostic importance. True flagellomeres are connected by membranous linkage that permits movement, though the flagellum of "true" insects does not have any intrinsic muscles. Some other Arthropoda do however have intrinsic muscles throughout
6205-410: The top of a straw hive 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter "so that there are in all seven bars of deal to which the bees fix their combs", foreshadowing future uses of movable-comb hives. He also described using such hives in a multi-story configuration, foreshadowing the modern use of supers: he added successive straw hives below and later removed the ones above when free of brood and filled with honey so
6290-450: The total perimeter of the cells. Known in geometry as the honeycomb conjecture , this was given by Jan Brożek and mathematically proven much later by Thomas Hales . Thus, a hexagonal structure uses the least material to create a lattice of cells within a given volume . A second reason, given by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson , is that the shape simply results from the process of individual bees putting cells together: somewhat analogous to
6375-464: The typical insect antenna are the scape or scapus (base), the pedicel or pedicellus (stem), and finally the flagellum , which often comprises many units known as flagellomeres . The pedicel (the second segment) contains the Johnston's organ which is a collection of sensory cells. The scape is mounted in a socket in a more or less ring-shaped sclerotised region called the torulus , often
6460-460: The wax during comb construction, while actively warming the wax. During the construction of hexagonal cells, wax temperature is between 33.6–37.6 °C (92.5–99.7 °F), well below the 40 °C (104 °F) temperature at which wax is assumed to be liquid for initiating new comb construction. The body temperature of bees is a factor for regulating an ideal wax temperature for building the comb. Beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture )
6545-489: The world; the British National is the most common size in the United Kingdom; Dadant and Modified Dadant hives are widely used in France and Italy, and Layens by some beekeepers, where their large size is an advantage. Square Dadant hives–often called 12-frame Dadant or Brother Adam hives–are used in large parts of Germany and other parts of Europe by commercial beekeepers. Any hanging-frame hive design can be built as
6630-636: Was also documented by the Roman writers Virgil , Gaius Julius Hyginus , Varro , and Columella . Beekeeping has been practiced in ancient China since antiquity. In a book written by Fan Li (or Tao Zhu Gong) during the Spring and Autumn period are sections describing beekeeping, stressing the importance of the quality of the wooden box used and its effects on the quality of the honey. The Chinese word for honey mi ( Chinese : 蜜 ; pinyin : Mì ), reconstructed Old Chinese pronunciation *mjit )
6715-411: Was also the first to confirm mating with drones takes place outside hives and that queens are inseminated in successive matings with male drones, which occur high in the air at a great distance from the hive. Together, Huber and Burnens dissected bees under the microscope, and were among the first to describe the ovaries and spermatheca (sperm store) of queens, as well as the penis of male drones. Huber
6800-473: Was an Austrian/Italian military officer who in 1865 invented a simple machine for extracting honey from the comb by means of centrifugal force . His original idea was to support combs in a metal framework and then spin them within a container to collect honey that was thrown out by centrifugal force. This meant honeycombs could be returned to a hive empty and undamaged, saving the bees a vast amount of work, time and materials. This invention significantly improved
6885-633: Was an Egyptian poet, medical doctor, bacteriologist, and bee scientist, who was active in England and Egypt in the early twentieth century. In 1919, Abushady patented a removable, standardized aluminum honeycomb. In the same year, he founded The Apis Club in Benson, Oxfordshire , which later became the International Bee Research Association (IBRA). In Egypt in the 1930s, Abushady established The Bee Kingdom League and its organ The Bee Kingdom . A Horizontal top-bar hive
6970-415: Was borrowed from proto-Tocharian * ḿət(ə) (where * ḿ is palatalized ; cf. Tocharian B mit ), cognate with English mead . The ancient Maya domesticated a species of stingless bee , which they used for several purposes, including making balché , a mead -like alcoholic drink. By 300 BCE they had achieved the highest levels of stingless beekeeping practices in the world. The use of stingless bees
7055-692: Was elected President of the California State Beekeepers' Association in 1921. In the UK, practical beekeeping was led in the early 20th century by a few men, pre-eminently Brother Adam and his Buckfast bee , and R.O.B. Manley , author of books including Honey Production in the British Isles and inventor of the Manley frame, which is still universally popular in the UK. Other notable British pioneers include William Herrod-Hempsall and Gale. Ahmed Zaky Abushady (1892–1955)
7140-480: Was unearthed from the grave of a noblewoman during an archaeological excavations in 2003 near the town of Borjomi , Georgia . Ceramic jars found in the grave contained several types of honey, including linden and flower honey. Domestication of bees can be seen in Egyptian art from around 4,500 years ago; there is also evidence of beekeeping in ancient China , Greece , and Maya . In the modern era, beekeeping
7225-419: Was usually accomplished by using burning sulfur to suffocate the colony without harming the honey within. It was impossible to replace old, dark-brown brood comb in which larval bees are constricted by layers of shed pupal skins. The movable frames of modern hives are considered to have been developed from the traditional basket top bar (movable comb) hives of Greece, which allowed the beekeeper to avoid killing
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