Scanning electron microscopic studies on tongue of open-nesting honey bees Apis dorsata F. and Apis florea F. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
Taste stimuli play vital role in the life of honey bees. Sensory structures observed on tongue of the honey bees with the help of Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have become an important tool in analyzing honey bee biodiversity which offers an advanced diagnostic tool to study honey bee biogeography and determine adaptive variations to native flora. Tongue of honey bees present a high geographic variability in regard to the floral resources visited by the bees. The present study has determined to determine differences in the tongue of
open-nesting bees by scanning electron microscopy of Apis dorsata and Apis florea. The two bees showed distinct morphological variations with respect to the lapping and sucking apparatus. It was observed that the ridges on the proximal region exhibited rough surface on A.dorsata whereas spinous in case of A.florea. Moreover, the arrangement of hair in the middle part of the tongue also differed in the two species. The shape of flabellum differed in the two species reason being the influence of native flora. It was observed that the shape of flabellum was oval in A.dorsata whereas in A.florea it was triangular. These differences indicated for the role of native flora and honey bee biodiversity.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Tongue
Bozolla, J.J. and Russell, L.D. (1999). Electron Microscopy: principles and techniques for biologists.Second edition, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston (USA), pp. 644.
Erickson, E.H., Carlson, Stanley D. and Garment, M.B. (1986). A scanning electron microscope atlas of the honey bee. Iowa state University Press, Ames, IA, pp. 292.
Esslen, J. and Kaissling, K.E. (1976). Zahl und Verteilung antennalar Sensillen bei der Honigbiene (Apis mellifera L.). Zoomorphologie, 83: 227-251.
Galic, M. (1971). Die Sinnesorgane an der Glossa dem Epipharynx und dem Hypopharynx de Arbeiterin von Apis mellifica L. (Insecta, Hymenoptera). Z. Morph. Okol. Tiere., 70: 201-228.
Kumar, Neelima R., Nayyar, K., and Anudeep (2014). Biodiversity in cavity-nesting honey bees Apis cerana F. and Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Ultrastructure of mouth-parts. J.Global Biosc.,3 (4) :787-791.
Mattu, V.K. and Verma, L.R. (1984a). Morphometric studies on the Indian honey bee, Apis cerana indica F. Effect of seasonal variations. Apidologie, 15: 63-74.
Mattu, V.K. and Verma, L.R. (1984b). Comparative morphometric studies on the Indian honey bee of the North-West Himalayas. 3. Hind leg, tergites and sternites. J. Apic. Res., 23: 117-122.
Michener, C.D. and Brooks, R.W. (1984). Comparative study of the glossae of bees. Contrib. Amer. Entomol. Inst., 22: 1-73.
Padilla Alvarez, F., Valerio Da Silva, M.J., Campano Cabanes, F., Jimenez Vaquero, E., Flores Serrano, J.M., Puerta Puerta, F. and Bustos Ruiz, M. (2001). Discriminacion entre poblaciones de abejas (Apis mellifera L.) del suude Espana, Centro de Portugal of Madeira. Arch. Zootec., 50: 79-89.
Whitehead, A.T. and Larsen, J. (1976). Ultrastructure of the contact chemoreceptors of Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Int. J. Insect. Morphol. Embryol., 5 : 301-315.
Winston, M.L. (1987). The Biology of the honey bee. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp 281.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) © Author (s)
