Honeybees possess a complex anatomy that enables their roles in the ecosystem. Understanding the functions of each part, such as their unique legs, reveals the depth of their adaptability and efficiency.
The Direct Answer: Six Legs
Like all insects, honeybees possess six legs attached to their middle body segment, the thorax. This is a defining feature of the Class Insecta. While all six legs contribute to basic locomotion like walking and running, each pair is uniquely adapted in structure and function for the bee’s diverse activities. The legs are segmented, consisting of five main parts: coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus.
Forelegs: Antennae Cleaners and Grooming Tools
The forelegs are the shortest and highly specialized for grooming and manipulating objects. A distinctive feature on each foreleg is the “antennae cleaner,” located on the inner margin of the tibia. This structure consists of a semicircular notch lined with stiff hairs and a movable spur. To clean their sensitive antennae, a bee pulls each antenna through this notch, and the comb-like hairs effectively remove pollen, dust, and other debris. These forelegs also feature brushes on their inner surface, used for sweeping pollen and other particles from the bee’s head, eyes, and mouthparts.
Midlegs: Balance and Pollen Transfer
The midlegs are longer than the forelegs and serve multiple purposes. They provide stability and balance, assisting the bee in walking, climbing, and grasping surfaces. Honeybees utilize adhesive pads and claws on their feet to grip various textures, from rough tree trunks to smooth leaves. These midlegs also play a role in pollen collection and transfer, having stiff bristles that help scrape pollen from the bee’s body hairs and transfer it to the specialized structures on the hindlegs. They move pollen accumulated on the forelegs and thorax towards the hindlegs.
Hindlegs: Pollen Baskets and Wax Manipulation
The hindlegs of worker honeybees are the longest and are adapted for pollen collection and hive construction. Each hindleg features a specialized structure called the corbicula, or pollen basket, a concave area on the outer surface of the tibia surrounded by long, curved bristles. As a bee collects pollen, she grooms herself, moistening the pollen with nectar or honey and brushing it from her body to the hindlegs. Pollen combs, rows of stiff bristles on the inner surface of the first tarsal segment (basitarsus), scrape pollen from the bee’s body and from flowers. The bee then uses a “pollen press,” a mechanism between the tibia and basitarsus, to compact the loose pollen.
When the leg bends, two flat plates of the pollen press separate, allowing pollen to be pushed in; when the leg straightens, the plates close, pressing the pollen upwards into the corbicula. This process forms the characteristic pollen pellets carried back to the hive, often secured by a central bristle within the corbicula. Beyond pollen, the hindlegs also aid in manipulating wax flakes for comb construction. Worker bees secrete wax scales from glands on their abdomen, and these scales are removed and passed forward by the hindlegs. The legs, along with the mandibles, then help shape and integrate these wax scales into the hive’s honeycomb structure.