Order: Hymenoptera
• Ant, bee, wasp
• 2 pr wings, membranous
• Social and solitary
• Most larvae legless
Bee Castes
Worker
Queen
Drone
Communication Dances
• Round Dance
– Close food (<80m in Carniolan bee)
– Livelier = better source; also tells smell and taste
• Waggle Dance
– Further food (>80m)
– Tells direction, distance, abundance, smell and taste
• Sickle
– Intermediate form in some races of bees (Italian)
Waggle Dance
Shall we
Dance?
Benefits of Uniramians
• Food for other animals
• Edible by us (except U.S.??)
• Produce useful products (silk, medicine,
etc.)
• Detrivores/scavengers
• Parasitize insects harmful to crops
Benefits of Uniramians
• Pollination
– 1/3 of all food, spices and condiments
– Beverages
– Fibers
– Medicines
– Fats and oils
Look at 1 species: Honeybee
• Role as a pollinator
– 2.5 million honeybee colonies rented annually in U.S.
for 90 crops
• Products Produced
– Honey
- Royal Jelly
– Propolis
- Bee brood
– Wax
- Mead (fermented honey water)
– Pollen
Group Activity
• Make a Concept Map of the Honeybee
Detriments of Uniramians
• Spread of disease – mosquitoes, lice
• Destroy property – termites, booklice
• Parasites of plants or animals
• Poisonous or painful bites
• Destruction of food crops
Insect Venom
• Honeybee – stinger is modified ovipositor
– Pulled out when bee stings mammal
– Bee dies
– So which castes sting?
Schmidt
Sting
Index
Honeybee Venom
• Venom – 40+ chemicals
– Melittin – 50%  pain
– Hyaluronidase – 3% opens spaces for venom to enter
– Phospholipase A2 – 15%  hydrolyzes phospholipids
• The major allergen
– Apamine – 3%  Neurotoxin; muscle tremors
– Mast cell degranulating peptide – 2%  histamine release in
wasps or other species
– 27% other (Histamine, etc.)
Ant Venom
• Contain high concentrations of alkaloids
– Piperidines (Fire Ants)
– Pyrrolidines
– Pumiliotoxins
• Formic Acid (Formicinae ants)
Other venoms
• Centipedes
– Geophilida – secrete cyanogenic compounds
• Very effective against ants and spiders
– Scolopendrida – mix of stuff to paralyze or kill
• Millipedes
– Benzoquinones, Hydrogen cyanide, etc.
Bibliography
•
BIODIDAC. 2005. Biology Image Bank. http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/
•
Buss, Lyle. 2003. University of Florida and Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/ants/harvester03.htm
•
Caron, Dewey M. 1999. Honey Bee Biology and beekeeping. Wicwas Press, LLC.
•
Carper. VA. 2003. Goliath Beetle. USFWS.
http://www.funkman.org/animal/insect/goliathbeetle.html
•
Conniff, Richard. June 2003. “Stung: How tiny little insects get us to do exactly as they wish.” in
Discover P. 67-70.
•
Eisner, Thomas, Maria Eisner, and Melody siegler. 2005. Secret Weapons: defenses of Insects,
Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-legged Creatures. Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press. Cambridge, Mass.
•
Ewen, Sally. 2005. Microcosmos Photography.
http://www.microcosmos.org.uk/pics/pics3/large_pharnacia.jpg
•
Merck Manual. 2003. Bee, Wasp, Hornet, and Ant Stings.
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec24/ch298/ch298g.html
•
Pollinator Partnership. 2007. What is Pollination? www.pollinator.org/pollination.htm
•
Rold, Robert. 2002. Daviess County Audubon. http://audubon.wku.edu/daviess/ivorymarked_beetle.htm