The Man of Bicorp
Today, there is a lot of media attention centered around bees. The mass honey bee die off has recently highlighted just how much we depend on these marvelous little members of the hymenoptera order, but few what few realize is we have been interacting with and depending on them for literally thousands of years.
The Cuevas de la Araña or "Spider Caves" in English are a series of caves in Bicorp Municipality in Valencia Spain. These caves were used by early humans as shelter and as such, remains of their culture have been left for us to discover, and can give us insight into the lives of prehistoric humans. This painting depicted here, referred to as "The Man of Bicorp" is thought to have been painted by Epipaleolithic humans, around 8000 years ago. It was found among other paintings of important facets of life, such as hunting and ceremonial dancing, showing just how culturally significant bees were at the time. Studies have shown that the peoples in the Bicorp area at the time were typically nomadic hunter gatherers, unable to cultivate cereals that in other cultures of the time were the base carbohydrate in many diets. This meant that, though they did not participate in apiarism or "bee keeping," harvested honey was still a a rich source of nutrient dense carbohydrates, and being fairly abundant, though at times hard to reach, was incredibly important in their diets. This gives ample reasoning as to why the act of honey gathering was immortalized in cave art alongside other events of great significance in the lives of these early humans.
The Cuevas de la Araña or "Spider Caves" in English are a series of caves in Bicorp Municipality in Valencia Spain. These caves were used by early humans as shelter and as such, remains of their culture have been left for us to discover, and can give us insight into the lives of prehistoric humans. This painting depicted here, referred to as "The Man of Bicorp" is thought to have been painted by Epipaleolithic humans, around 8000 years ago. It was found among other paintings of important facets of life, such as hunting and ceremonial dancing, showing just how culturally significant bees were at the time. Studies have shown that the peoples in the Bicorp area at the time were typically nomadic hunter gatherers, unable to cultivate cereals that in other cultures of the time were the base carbohydrate in many diets. This meant that, though they did not participate in apiarism or "bee keeping," harvested honey was still a a rich source of nutrient dense carbohydrates, and being fairly abundant, though at times hard to reach, was incredibly important in their diets. This gives ample reasoning as to why the act of honey gathering was immortalized in cave art alongside other events of great significance in the lives of these early humans.
Bee Biology
Though there are approximately 30,000 recognized bee species, we will be focusing on the biology of a much smaller section, the members of the genus Apis, more commonly known as the honey bees.
Most of the bees you will counter in your life are sterile female worker bees, which make up the majority of a colony. Typical colonies consist of 50-60,000 workers, 500-1000 fertile male bees, the drones, and the sole fertile female of the hive, the queen.
Anatomy:
Physically, bees share basic their basic construction with all insects, being comprised of the the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
The head contains a pair of compound eyes used for regular vision outside the hive, and are comprised of three to five thousand visual processing units called ommatidia. Though their compound eyes are not well suited to identifying individual shapes, they are supremely adapted to seeing movement, and are able to perceive colors in the 300-600 wavelength. Bees are able to perceive most of the same colors as humans, with the exception of reds, but with the added ability to see ultraviolet. Despite their inability to see most reds, they are able to perceive reddish colors such as yellow and orange. Along with their compound eyes, bees have a set of three small, simple eyes called ocelli atop their head. These simple eyes cannot differentiate shapes, but are able to "see" intensity, wavelength, and duration of light, assisting bees with navigation and sun orientation, and to effectively "estimate" the extent of approaching darkness, signalling them to return to the hive. The head also contains the antennae, highly sensitive organs used to analyze pheromones and the substances responsible for oder and taste. They are also able to sense vibrations, air movement, sound waves, temperatures and humidity. The head also contains the proboscis of the bee, a form of complex "tongue" used in feeding.
The thorax contains the legs and wings. At the end of each of the legs are small structures called tarsi, which "taste" what they touch, as well as claws and arolia, which are soft pads between the paired claws on each leg. The combination of the claw and arolia are what allow bees to get a firm grip on almost any surface. Though all legs have the tarsi, claws, each set of legs has their own specialized structures as well. The first pair of legs has a small notch specially adapted for cleaning their antennae. The middle pair has specialized spines designed to remove the packed pollen from the pollen basket, which is located within the third and final pair of legs. The pollen basket, called the corbicula, is where the packed pollen is kept during transport from flowers to the hive.
Also attached to the thorax are the wings. Bees have two pairs of wings, with the fore wing always being larger than the hind wing, though the wings are kept coupled together with approximately twenty small hooks located along the front side of the hind wing. Though their wings can beat nearly 200 time a second, it is not just flapping that allow flight, but the unique propeller like twist imparted to the wing on each up and down stroke.
Finally, the third portion of the bee, the abdomen, consists of seven visible segments. The first segment makes up the petiole or "waist" of the bee, while the final segment contains the stinger in workers and queens, The stinger is a modified ovipositor, which is why it is only present in workers and queens, and not the male drones. The stinger has an incredibly sharp, needle like point with two serrated, retractable rods called lancets on the sides. The venom bulb is positioned at the top of the stinger, and continues to pump venom for up to a minute after breaking away from the bees abdomen. Bee venom stored int he bulb is made of melittin, a chemical taht causes pain, impacts blood vessels, and damages tissues, and photolipase A2 and hyaluronidase, which contribute to the swelling and spread of the toxin. Upon stinging, an alarm pheromone is also released which causes a defense response in other workers. After stinging, the worker bee will die as the stinger and part of the digestive tract are torn away from the bee, being left with the victim of the sting. Also on the abdomen are the wax glands, which are located on the underside of the worker. These glands secrete the wax that the bees use to make the honeycomb during the wax producing phase of their life.
Life Stages:
Bees go through complete metamorphosis, meaning they go through several life stages from egg to larva to pupa, and finally adult. The development from egg to a new worker typically takes between two and three weeks, and during this time the young are well cared for.
The eggs are small and ovid, with hatching taking place approximately three days after laying.
The larval stage resembles a small, white, segmented worm, and can vary in length depending on what the newly hatched larva is to become. Queens typically take the least time, at about 5 and a half days, workers at about six, and the male drones the longest, at about six and a half days. All larva start their life being fed royal jelly for the first two days, increasing to five and a half times hatching weight in the first day alone. After the first two days, larvae are fed honey, pollen and water if they are to be workers or drones, but queen larvae continue to receive the royal jelly throughout their larval stage. After five to six days, the larval will have molted five times, and grown 1500 times in weight.
At this point the pupal stage begins, in which the larvae undergoes massive transformation. The body changes from it's work like state to it's adult form with three separate and distinct sections and newly formed boy parts. Pupation times, like the larval stage, can vary, with queens taking about seven and a half days, workers around 12, and the drones, yet again the longest at 14 and a half days.
Once fully formed as an adult, each type takes on it's own role within the hive. Workers are the essential maintainers of the hive, and the most abundant type of bee within the hive at any given time. During the first four to five days of their life, they are cleaned and fed by other workers while it's newly formed body hardens. After hardening, the majority of it's live over the next 15-17 days involve cleaning of the hive, feeding larvae, creating and working with wax to build the hive, processing honey, and regulating the hives internal temperature. After this period the worker begins to leave the hive and will gather for the rest of it's short life. This includes gathering pollen, nectar, water, and propolis for the hive before dying.
Queens are larger than workers, and are fertile. Their major role within the hive is egg laying, and if a queen is found to be infertile or sick, it will quickly be replaced with a new queen for the good of the hive. After emerging from the pupal cocoon and cell, a new queen will leave the hive to mate with male drones. After several days abroad mating, the sperm is stored in a spermatheca, and she returns to the hive, likely never mating again. The stored sperm can be used for up to four years, using it to fertilize and lay up to 1500 eggs per day, with the fertilized eggs becoming female workers, and with a new queen being reared from the final fertilized eggs to replace the aging queen in time. After the sperm is used up, the queen will produce unfertilized eggs which will become the male drones for the rest of her life.
Drones are the male bees within the colony, hatched from unfertilized eggs. Their role is largely to just fertilize new queens, however upon mating they will die as their reproductive organs and the end of their abdomen break off during mating in order to temporarily plug the young queens reproductive tract to ensure as much of their sperm as possible is stored within the spermatheca.
Most of the bees you will counter in your life are sterile female worker bees, which make up the majority of a colony. Typical colonies consist of 50-60,000 workers, 500-1000 fertile male bees, the drones, and the sole fertile female of the hive, the queen.
Anatomy:
Physically, bees share basic their basic construction with all insects, being comprised of the the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
The head contains a pair of compound eyes used for regular vision outside the hive, and are comprised of three to five thousand visual processing units called ommatidia. Though their compound eyes are not well suited to identifying individual shapes, they are supremely adapted to seeing movement, and are able to perceive colors in the 300-600 wavelength. Bees are able to perceive most of the same colors as humans, with the exception of reds, but with the added ability to see ultraviolet. Despite their inability to see most reds, they are able to perceive reddish colors such as yellow and orange. Along with their compound eyes, bees have a set of three small, simple eyes called ocelli atop their head. These simple eyes cannot differentiate shapes, but are able to "see" intensity, wavelength, and duration of light, assisting bees with navigation and sun orientation, and to effectively "estimate" the extent of approaching darkness, signalling them to return to the hive. The head also contains the antennae, highly sensitive organs used to analyze pheromones and the substances responsible for oder and taste. They are also able to sense vibrations, air movement, sound waves, temperatures and humidity. The head also contains the proboscis of the bee, a form of complex "tongue" used in feeding.
The thorax contains the legs and wings. At the end of each of the legs are small structures called tarsi, which "taste" what they touch, as well as claws and arolia, which are soft pads between the paired claws on each leg. The combination of the claw and arolia are what allow bees to get a firm grip on almost any surface. Though all legs have the tarsi, claws, each set of legs has their own specialized structures as well. The first pair of legs has a small notch specially adapted for cleaning their antennae. The middle pair has specialized spines designed to remove the packed pollen from the pollen basket, which is located within the third and final pair of legs. The pollen basket, called the corbicula, is where the packed pollen is kept during transport from flowers to the hive.
Also attached to the thorax are the wings. Bees have two pairs of wings, with the fore wing always being larger than the hind wing, though the wings are kept coupled together with approximately twenty small hooks located along the front side of the hind wing. Though their wings can beat nearly 200 time a second, it is not just flapping that allow flight, but the unique propeller like twist imparted to the wing on each up and down stroke.
Finally, the third portion of the bee, the abdomen, consists of seven visible segments. The first segment makes up the petiole or "waist" of the bee, while the final segment contains the stinger in workers and queens, The stinger is a modified ovipositor, which is why it is only present in workers and queens, and not the male drones. The stinger has an incredibly sharp, needle like point with two serrated, retractable rods called lancets on the sides. The venom bulb is positioned at the top of the stinger, and continues to pump venom for up to a minute after breaking away from the bees abdomen. Bee venom stored int he bulb is made of melittin, a chemical taht causes pain, impacts blood vessels, and damages tissues, and photolipase A2 and hyaluronidase, which contribute to the swelling and spread of the toxin. Upon stinging, an alarm pheromone is also released which causes a defense response in other workers. After stinging, the worker bee will die as the stinger and part of the digestive tract are torn away from the bee, being left with the victim of the sting. Also on the abdomen are the wax glands, which are located on the underside of the worker. These glands secrete the wax that the bees use to make the honeycomb during the wax producing phase of their life.
Life Stages:
Bees go through complete metamorphosis, meaning they go through several life stages from egg to larva to pupa, and finally adult. The development from egg to a new worker typically takes between two and three weeks, and during this time the young are well cared for.
The eggs are small and ovid, with hatching taking place approximately three days after laying.
The larval stage resembles a small, white, segmented worm, and can vary in length depending on what the newly hatched larva is to become. Queens typically take the least time, at about 5 and a half days, workers at about six, and the male drones the longest, at about six and a half days. All larva start their life being fed royal jelly for the first two days, increasing to five and a half times hatching weight in the first day alone. After the first two days, larvae are fed honey, pollen and water if they are to be workers or drones, but queen larvae continue to receive the royal jelly throughout their larval stage. After five to six days, the larval will have molted five times, and grown 1500 times in weight.
At this point the pupal stage begins, in which the larvae undergoes massive transformation. The body changes from it's work like state to it's adult form with three separate and distinct sections and newly formed boy parts. Pupation times, like the larval stage, can vary, with queens taking about seven and a half days, workers around 12, and the drones, yet again the longest at 14 and a half days.
Once fully formed as an adult, each type takes on it's own role within the hive. Workers are the essential maintainers of the hive, and the most abundant type of bee within the hive at any given time. During the first four to five days of their life, they are cleaned and fed by other workers while it's newly formed body hardens. After hardening, the majority of it's live over the next 15-17 days involve cleaning of the hive, feeding larvae, creating and working with wax to build the hive, processing honey, and regulating the hives internal temperature. After this period the worker begins to leave the hive and will gather for the rest of it's short life. This includes gathering pollen, nectar, water, and propolis for the hive before dying.
Queens are larger than workers, and are fertile. Their major role within the hive is egg laying, and if a queen is found to be infertile or sick, it will quickly be replaced with a new queen for the good of the hive. After emerging from the pupal cocoon and cell, a new queen will leave the hive to mate with male drones. After several days abroad mating, the sperm is stored in a spermatheca, and she returns to the hive, likely never mating again. The stored sperm can be used for up to four years, using it to fertilize and lay up to 1500 eggs per day, with the fertilized eggs becoming female workers, and with a new queen being reared from the final fertilized eggs to replace the aging queen in time. After the sperm is used up, the queen will produce unfertilized eggs which will become the male drones for the rest of her life.
Drones are the male bees within the colony, hatched from unfertilized eggs. Their role is largely to just fertilize new queens, however upon mating they will die as their reproductive organs and the end of their abdomen break off during mating in order to temporarily plug the young queens reproductive tract to ensure as much of their sperm as possible is stored within the spermatheca.
An in Depth Look at Bee-Human Relations
As the Man of Bicorp shows, we have been interacting with bees for longer than we have even properly been recording history. In more recent history, there are repeated examples of our interaction. This interaction has also gone far beyond simple gathering for food. Hesiod wrote in Works and Days, concerning good farming and planting methods "The Oak bears acorns for them at the top And honey-bees below" and the entirety of lower Egypt's symbol was the bee, keeping the name after the unification of Egypt with the Pharaoh's title "He of the Sedge (North) and of the Bee (South.)
The bee, though at times inconvenient with their stinging ways, has continued to be held in high regard in nearly every society that had access to them. Beyond being an amazing food source and as pollinators, they have been seen as a model for society as well, Journalist Bee Wilson states that the image of a community of honey bees "occurs from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, as well as by social theorists Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx." An animal that is social and industrious, hardworking and diligent, they are a constant reminder of what a well oiled society can be.
Bees and humanity have had such a long interaction as their products have long been revered. The Ayurveda, a medicinal system from India with texts dating back to the 3rd of 4th Century CE, has mention of the therapeutic properties of honey, beeswax, and propolis. There is evidence in Chinese medicinal books that honey and bee stings have been used since ancient times to treat various diseases and illnesses, and texts on clay tablets of Mesopotamian culture, dating back over 2700 years BC show honey being used as medicine. In Egypt, the “Ebers Papyrus” made 1550 years BC, is the first guide to apitherapy, showing how to use honey, beeswax, and propolis to create different medicines and cosmetics. In Ancient Greece, soldiers were required to eat honey as part of their daily diet to give strength and courage, and athletes similarly used it as an early form of health supplement. Hippocrates, who lived 463 – 352 years BC used honey to treat liver and stomach illnesses, and to heal ulcers and wounds. He wrote “Honey suppresses fever, purifies and heals wounds, carbuncles and ulcers.” The Greeks were also known to make medical ointments from wax and honey, and to use both in cosmetic applications, much as the Egyptians had.
So ingrained in our culture are honey bees that they are one invasive specie we do not mind, but encourage. Though there are native bee species in North America, the honey bee we all know and love was brought sometime around the 1620's, and throughout the past few hundred years, we have encouraged their growth in North America by planting crops friendly to them, encouraging swarming, and doing everything in our power to assist them in thriving, especially with their recently decline.
The bee, though at times inconvenient with their stinging ways, has continued to be held in high regard in nearly every society that had access to them. Beyond being an amazing food source and as pollinators, they have been seen as a model for society as well, Journalist Bee Wilson states that the image of a community of honey bees "occurs from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, as well as by social theorists Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx." An animal that is social and industrious, hardworking and diligent, they are a constant reminder of what a well oiled society can be.
Bees and humanity have had such a long interaction as their products have long been revered. The Ayurveda, a medicinal system from India with texts dating back to the 3rd of 4th Century CE, has mention of the therapeutic properties of honey, beeswax, and propolis. There is evidence in Chinese medicinal books that honey and bee stings have been used since ancient times to treat various diseases and illnesses, and texts on clay tablets of Mesopotamian culture, dating back over 2700 years BC show honey being used as medicine. In Egypt, the “Ebers Papyrus” made 1550 years BC, is the first guide to apitherapy, showing how to use honey, beeswax, and propolis to create different medicines and cosmetics. In Ancient Greece, soldiers were required to eat honey as part of their daily diet to give strength and courage, and athletes similarly used it as an early form of health supplement. Hippocrates, who lived 463 – 352 years BC used honey to treat liver and stomach illnesses, and to heal ulcers and wounds. He wrote “Honey suppresses fever, purifies and heals wounds, carbuncles and ulcers.” The Greeks were also known to make medical ointments from wax and honey, and to use both in cosmetic applications, much as the Egyptians had.
So ingrained in our culture are honey bees that they are one invasive specie we do not mind, but encourage. Though there are native bee species in North America, the honey bee we all know and love was brought sometime around the 1620's, and throughout the past few hundred years, we have encouraged their growth in North America by planting crops friendly to them, encouraging swarming, and doing everything in our power to assist them in thriving, especially with their recently decline.
References:
The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore Courier Dover Publications: Hilda M. Ransome
Bee Information on the World Wide Web http://www.honeybee.com/index.htm
Bees Online http://www.beesonline.com/
The Hive: the Story of the Honeybee. London: John Murray.
The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore Courier Dover Publications: Hilda M. Ransome
Bee Information on the World Wide Web http://www.honeybee.com/index.htm
Bees Online http://www.beesonline.com/
The Hive: the Story of the Honeybee. London: John Murray.