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Information about Pollen Basket

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Honeybee pollen basket
The pollen basket or corbicula is part of the tibia on the hind legs of those four related lineages of apid bees that used to comprise the family Apidae; the honeybees, bumblebees, stingless bees, and orchid bees. A honeybee moistens the forelegs with a protruding tongue and brushes the pollen that has collected on head, body and forward appendages to the hind legs. First, the pollen is transferred to the pollen comb on the hind legs and then combed, pressed, compacted, and transferred to the outside surface of the tibia of the hind legs. There, the area of the tibia that - in most other bees - is the location of the scopa is a polished concavity surrounded by a fringe of hairs, into which the pollen is placed, and a single hair functions as a pin that secures the middle of the pollen load. Honey and or nectar is used to moisten the dry pollen. The mixing of the pollen with nectar or honey changes the color of the pollen. The color of the pollen can identify the pollen source.
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Honeybee pollen basket


Apparently, Karl von Frisch and other bee researchers have observed that individual honeybees are more or less efficient in packing pollen into the pollen basket. It takes an individual worker bee from three to eighteen minutes to complete a pollen load and return to the hive. Bees may collect both nectar and pollen. Some plants, such as poppy, are a source only of pollen.

See also

Reference

  • Dorothy Hodges, The Pollen Loads of the Honeybee, published by Bee Research Association Limited, 1952
Apidae

Subfamilies
  • Apinae
Honey bees, bumblebees, stingless bees, orchid bees and others
  • Nomadinae
Cuckoo bees
  • Xylocopinae
Carpenter bees

The Apidae
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Apidae

Subfamilies
  • Apinae
Honey bees, bumblebees, stingless bees, orchid bees and others
  • Nomadinae
Cuckoo bees
  • Xylocopinae
Carpenter bees

The Apidae
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The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed.
The dispute is about whether the species/subspecies treatment of Engel (1999) has been accepted by the scientific community.

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Bombini

Genus: Bombus
Latreille, 1802

Species

more than 250 species and subspecies in 38 subgenera

Bumblebees (also spelled bumble bee, also known as humblebee
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Meliponini

Genera

Austroplebeia
Cephalotrigona
Cleptotrigona
Dactylurina
Hypotrigona
Lestrimelitta
Liotrigona
Lisotrigona
Melipona
Meliponula

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Euglossini

Genera

Aglae
Euglossa
Eulaema
Eufriesea
Exaerete

Euglossine bees, also called orchid bees
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of microgametophytes (pollen grains), which produce the male gametes (sperm cells) of seed plants. The pollen grain with its hard coat protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens
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scopa is used to refer to any of a number of different modifications on the body of a non-parasitic bee that form a pollen-carrying apparatus. In most bees, the scopa is simply a particularly dense mass of elongated, often branched, hairs (or setae) on the hind leg.
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Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honey bees (and some other species of bee), and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow
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Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants. It is produced either by the flowers, in which it attracts pollinating animals or by or extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists providing anti-herbivore protection.
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The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood.
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Karl Ritter von Frisch (November 20 1886 – June 12 1982) was an Austrian ethologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz.
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poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically with one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens.
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The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood.
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A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds.
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