Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus Bombus, part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera (e.g., Calyptapis) are known from fossils.
Furthermore, bumble bees are predated on by birds for food. Foragers are frequently predated by invertebrates. Crab spiders and cryptically colored ambush bugs ambush bees at flowers to catch them. Robber flies resemble bumble bees and clasp the bumble bees, insert them with enzymes, then eat their internal organs.
A bumblebee nest differs in size and structure from that of a honeybee. Bumblebee nests are smaller and contain far fewer individuals which is mostly due to differences in the method of colony reproduction. [1] Honeybee colonies can contain up to 50,000 individuals, whereas bumblebee colonies usually only contain a few hundred. [1]
[4] [10] The bees can eat the raw materials like pollen and nectar of the flowers but most bees in the colony eat honey that is made using the raw materials since it has higher nutritional value. To create honey, the bees consume the pollen and the nectar, and then regurgitate them, mixing them with enzymes in their stomachs. [5]
Some species, like the bumble bees Bombus appositus or B. occidentalis and many species of nectar-feeding birds can distinguish between robbed and unrobbed plants and minimize their energy cost of foraging by avoiding heavily robbed flowers. [13] [15] Pollinating birds may be better at this than insects, because of their higher sensory ...
Honey bees are incredibly social insects. They live together in big groups with other bees in an organized society that scientists call eusocial, which means every bee has a job to do. This could ...
Several fly species are Batesian mimics of bumble bees, including robber flies, flower flies, deer bot flies, and bee flies. Some species of beetles, moths, sawflies and even other bees will mimic bumble bees. Additionally, the bumble flower beetle does not mimic the bumble bee's coloration but its buzzing flight sound. [8]
Bumblebees and honey bees are extremely influenced by an innate preference for blue and yellow color. When they have no training, they will often just visit flowers that naturally attract them. However, it is generally thought that bees will learn to visit more nectar rewarding flowers after experience associates the reward with the color of ...