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Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

The hexagonal structure of the honey bee comb cell has been the source of many studies attempting to understand its structure and function. In the storage area of the comb, only honey is stored and no brood is reared. We predicted that honey bees may construct different hexagonal cells for brood rea...

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Autores principales: Yang, Shunhua, Deng, Shangkao, Kuang, Haiou, Zhou, Danyin, Gong, Xueyang, Dong, Kun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8253300/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34214154
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab042
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author Yang, Shunhua
Deng, Shangkao
Kuang, Haiou
Zhou, Danyin
Gong, Xueyang
Dong, Kun
author_facet Yang, Shunhua
Deng, Shangkao
Kuang, Haiou
Zhou, Danyin
Gong, Xueyang
Dong, Kun
author_sort Yang, Shunhua
collection PubMed
description The hexagonal structure of the honey bee comb cell has been the source of many studies attempting to understand its structure and function. In the storage area of the comb, only honey is stored and no brood is reared. We predicted that honey bees may construct different hexagonal cells for brood rearing and honey storage. We used quantitative analyses to evaluate the structure and function of the natural comb cell in the Chinese bee, Apis cerana cerana and the Italian bee, A. mellifera ligustica. We made cell molds using a crystal glue solution and measured the structure and inclination of cells. We found that the comb cells of A. c. cerana had both upward-sloping and downward-sloping cells; while the A. m. ligustica cells all tilted upwards. Interestingly, the cells did not conform to the regular hexagonal prism structure and showed irregular diameter sizes. In both species, comb cells also were differentiated into worker, drone and honey cells, differing in their diameter and depth. This study revealed unique differences in the structure and function of comb cells and showed that honey bees design their cells with precise engineering to increase storage capacity, and to create adequate growing room for their brood.
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spelling pubmed-82533002021-07-06 Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Yang, Shunhua Deng, Shangkao Kuang, Haiou Zhou, Danyin Gong, Xueyang Dong, Kun J Insect Sci Research Articles The hexagonal structure of the honey bee comb cell has been the source of many studies attempting to understand its structure and function. In the storage area of the comb, only honey is stored and no brood is reared. We predicted that honey bees may construct different hexagonal cells for brood rearing and honey storage. We used quantitative analyses to evaluate the structure and function of the natural comb cell in the Chinese bee, Apis cerana cerana and the Italian bee, A. mellifera ligustica. We made cell molds using a crystal glue solution and measured the structure and inclination of cells. We found that the comb cells of A. c. cerana had both upward-sloping and downward-sloping cells; while the A. m. ligustica cells all tilted upwards. Interestingly, the cells did not conform to the regular hexagonal prism structure and showed irregular diameter sizes. In both species, comb cells also were differentiated into worker, drone and honey cells, differing in their diameter and depth. This study revealed unique differences in the structure and function of comb cells and showed that honey bees design their cells with precise engineering to increase storage capacity, and to create adequate growing room for their brood. Oxford University Press 2021-07-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8253300/ /pubmed/34214154 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab042 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Yang, Shunhua
Deng, Shangkao
Kuang, Haiou
Zhou, Danyin
Gong, Xueyang
Dong, Kun
Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title_full Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title_fullStr Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title_short Evaluating and Comparing the Natural Cell Structure and Dimensions of Honey Bee Comb Cells of Chinese Bee, Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Italian Bee, Apis mellifera ligustica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
title_sort evaluating and comparing the natural cell structure and dimensions of honey bee comb cells of chinese bee, apis cerana cerana (hymenoptera: apidae) and italian bee, apis mellifera ligustica (hymenoptera: apidae)
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8253300/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34214154
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab042
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