The Anatomy of a Bee Head

Bees are a marvel in nature. As afraid as some are of the little buzzers, they are even more fascinated with their contributions to pollination, their collective intelligence, and their uncanny sense of smell. Understanding the anatomy of a bee may spark even greater passion to learn more about the black and yellow pollinators with which we coexist throughout the nation and the world.

The Head of the Bee

A bee's senses are heightened, which is part of its survival and resilience to many threats. A bee's head focuses on its surroundings, responds to what it senses, and also communicates it back to other bees. Popular communications are the Waggle Dance that lets the queen and other bees know it is time to move into their new home after swarming. The bee's head has four appendages attached to the head, including the set of antennae, the mandibles, the maxillae, and the labium.

The Two Bee Antennae

The pair of antennae is not attached to one another or connected as one. Instead, each is individually fitted into a socket on the head, fitting similarly to the way an elbow fits. The antennae are covered in hairs and other sensory structures that are connected to the bee’s nerves, sending important messages to the brain and other nervous system parts. The sensory structures are quite complex and comprise four distinct types of receptors. Bees have smell, taste, touch, and position sensors that help bees sense air movement, which all translate to the Johnston’s organ, which allows bees to hear and determine how high and how far they are flying. This organ at the base of the antennae communicates to scout bees and is also used when doing the dance or identifying a new swarming location.

Bee Mandibles

A bee’s mandibles are there to protect its mouth. Bees do not bite people, but they can bite the petals of a flower to get to the nectar source. Bees can chew wood, but the muscles in the bees' mandibles are weak, so this is not something typical in bee behavior. Bee mandibles are most often used to work wax, as well as have some other purposes. Bees can bite varroa mites, which are a massive threat to bee colonies worldwide. Bees can also bite wasps, and they would feel it, but even if a bee did bite a human, they would not feel it.

Younger bees use their mandibles to produce part of the royal jelly mixture, which is critical to raising baby bees, identifying a new queen, and survival. Scientists believe that mandibles are also used to secrete a banana-smelling scent when bees are signaling to attack, but studies continue to determine these specifics.

Those Little Bee Eyes

Although bee eyes are small, they seem to be the majority of the head. Bee vision looks pixilated and is not their strongest sense. The various eyes on a bee's head capture light, which helps it determine when to start and stop foraging. Bees' vision is similar to humans in that it is trichromatic, but bees perceive blue, green, and UV light, whereas humans perceive red, blue, and green. Bees do not see the color red.

All About the Bee Brain

As if you hadn’t guessed it, the biggest organ in the bee’s head is the brain. The hypopharyngeal and labial glands are also in the head of a bee. Honeybee brains have optical lobes that receive input from the other eyes and antennae. This connection contributes to the highly accurate olfactory senses in bees, aiding in their learning and memory capabilities. Communication is transmitted through nerve cells that travel through the thorax and abdomen, regulating the functions of each.

The hypopharyngeal gland creates royal jelly that is used to raise a queen-worthy brood. Queen bees will be given royal jelly their entire lives, whereas other bees only receive it in the first few days of life. The labial glands create saliva that is used to clean the body and also mixed with wax scales to shape wax.