Bumblebees are kind of Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera) family of bees.The world knows about 300 kinds thereof.
species of the genus Bombus, of which more than 80 are common in almost all parts of the world except Australia.
Where are the bees and how they create a family?Answers to these questions will be given in the article.
Habitats
Where bees live?It is easier to tell where they do not live.The ability to maintain the heat of his body allowed these insects dwell in the far north.Bumblebees penetrate to Greenland, Chukotka, Alaska and the New Earth.Why is the hardiness of these insects?They are characterized by the ability of the body thermoregulation.
At the same time, such a feature of not allowing them to get on in the tropics.Bumblebees live in North America, in Eurasia and in the areas of the mountains.Only two types of Bumble Bee found in the tropics of Brazil.
Brief description insects
Bumblebees (excavation bees) belong to the family Apidae, like regular honeybees.
By their way of life and the structure of the body is a large insect close to the bees.However, lifestyle and different sockets.
Males, unlike females, have long antennae, as they are larger and have a working bees copulatory mites.
Body of large, reaches a length of 3.5 cm, rather densely covered with hairs.The color combination of black, red, white and yellow stripes.
lower white part of the body ends in a small, inconspicuous in the normal state, the sting.Hind tibia have spurs.
bumblebee eyes located almost on the same line.
the uterus and working individuals have a collective unit.It consists of brushes and baskets.
uterus is bigger males and have a sting, as well as workers (undeveloped females).
Bumblebees - more friendly insects that sting is very rare, compared with the bees.On the chemical composition of the venom of the Bumblebee, little is known.It is poorly understood.
Lifestyle behavior
wonder where bees live?Bumblebees, like other insects, are active almost all summer, but all kinds of this period varies.It depends on their habitat (at high or low latitudes).
characteristic feature of bumblebees, distinguishes them from other pollinators (bees and wasps) - that they are able to work in the cold (to collect the nectar), at temperatures down to 0 ° C.In this regard, and they go further to the north other pollinators.
Those species that live in the far north, with a short one-month summer do not have time to start a family and live as a solitary insects.
In areas of moderate climate created by the same family live one summer.In tropical regions, some species of perennial organize family.
Where live bees in the winter?During this period they live in underground shelters.
uterus fertilized winter mostly in their pits dug in the ground and build nests in the spring.
How and where to nest and live bees?There are these amazing insects rare feature.Unlike other insects like bees all the larvae develop and feed in a common chamber.The free cells as the female creates reserves of honey and pollen (test honey) for a period of bad weather.
features of social life
Just as bees, bumble bees - public insects.They organize great family, numbering up to 200 individuals.
In those communities where bees live, there is a surprisingly clear allocation of responsibilities completely to each of its members.
In nature, the female usually lays 200-400 eggs to bring working individuals, then it begins to lay eggs, which give rise to males and females.
Many species have a so-called small queens (the average between the uterus and working individuals).The latter together with the workers and small queens build nests, collect honey and pollen (food) and lay unfertilized eggs that develop only males.And the most recent output of eggs laid uterus already new uterus, which, in turn, are fertilized males.
In winter there are only old uterus, as the old die, male, working individuals and small uterus and die.The entire community is scattered.
What happens bumblebees nest?Where are the bees?
fertilized uterus, as mentioned above, the winter mostly in pits dug in the ground and only in the spring, during thaw, begin to build their nests.Housing is a wrong oval cells derived from gruff reddish or brown wax.The nest is placed between the stones in the ground beneath the moss and so on. N.
bumblebees often used mole or mouse holes.
Normally only the first cell nests are made of wax, and then as these cells are devastated pupae cocoons.All the cells are filled with honey, too rude and flower dust.
Usually the nests of bumblebees to 200 individuals, at least - to 500. However, the people in the artificial nests to the presence of heating could be obtained with the number of families of individuals to 1000.
process of reproduction, nutrition
almost the entire period of the summer uterus lay their fertilized eggs.Subsequently, the workers out of them, and then a small uterus.Typically, each cell, where the bees live, delayed a few eggs.Some of the hatched larvae die due to lack of food.
complete larval development takes place within about 12 days.Next, they spin cocoons themselves, which are transformed into pupae.This period lasts for about 2 weeks.
larvae grows gradually increasing and pushing the cell.A female workers and individuals are constantly put in order, corrected and repairing houses.After 30 days in the nest conclusions of the working individual.
since the first number of the workers living in the nest increases rapidly.And food stocks are rising, used to store them abandoned empty cells.And this is one of the features of the life of bees.They never reused cell twice to fry breeding.Therefore, old nests are always pretty sloppy appearance.On such dilapidated building new insect cells without observing any order.
insects feed on nectar plants.For this purpose they collect it from blooming flowers of various kinds.
Finally, a bit of interesting facts about bumblebees
• Often bumblebee on hot days you can see the entrance to the nest, fluttering wings.In this way, it ventilates the slot.
• "Wool" helps to bask bumblebee - it prevents heat loss and reduces them twice.
• Bumblebee is capable of speeds in flight up to 18 km / h.
• bumblebee poison, unlike the venom of bees, does not harm a person, as this insect does not leave a sting in human skin.But it can sting multiple times.
• There is a branch called shmelevodstvom - breeding bees for agriculture (pollination of different crops to increase their productivity).
