Bees are a common sight as they flit from flower to flower, tirelessly foraging for sustenance. These industrious insects travel far and wide in their quest for food and water, sometimes venturing up to six miles from their hives. The question "What do bees eat?" elicits a variety of answers, as different bee species have different dietary preferences. This article focuses on the dietary habits of the hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes), a fascinating pollinator with unique characteristics.
Core Components of a Bee's Diet: Nectar and Pollen
Nectar and pollen are the cornerstones of a bee's diet. These two elements provide bees with the vital nutrients they need to thrive and sustain their hives. Nectar, a sugary liquid produced by flowers, provides bees with the energy they need to fly and perform their daily tasks. Pollen, on the other hand, is high in proteins, fats, and minerals, and it is essential for the growth and development of bee larvae.
Bees collect nectar by using their long, tube-shaped tongues to extract it from flowers. Pollen grains adhere to the bees' hairy bodies as they do this. The bees then move from flower to flower, aiding in cross-pollination, which is essential for plant reproduction. Bees use their legs to brush the grains into specialized structures on their hind legs called pollen baskets to collect pollen. Bees return to the hive after their foraging trip, where nectar is converted into honey and pollen is stored or consumed immediately.
Honey: A Staple Food Source
Bees consume honey as a key component of their diet. Royal jelly, a highly nutritious secretion used to feed all larvae during their early stages of development, as well as the developing queen bee, is another food produced within the hive. Bee bread, a mixture of pollen, honey, and saliva that ferments in the hive, is also a vital food source for bees. This process improves the bioavailability of pollen nutrients, providing a critical protein source for young bees and the overall health of the colony.
Seasonal and Situational Food Sources
Bees rely heavily on flowers for their diet, but when flowers are scarce, such as during seasonal changes, they may turn to alternative food sources. These may include juice from ripe fruits or sugary drinks left out by humans. Despite their adaptability in finding food, bees must have access to clean water. Water, like other living organisms, aids in digestion, regulates body temperature, and is required for food production within the hive.
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Feeding Within the Hive
Bees have a highly organized feeding system within their hives, ensuring that all bees, including those that never leave the hive, are fed. Worker bees forage outside for nectar and pollen, which they bring back to the hive. Worker bees consume the nectar and store it in their crop, an internal storage container. The bees then fly back to the hive and share the nectar with other worker bees through trophallaxis.
While the majority of honey bee larvae consume honey, some larvae are chosen to become future queens. These immature bees consume royal jelly, a white secretion produced by young, female worker bees. Workers and drones are only fed royal jelly during the first few days of larval development, whereas future queen larvae consume royal jelly throughout their development.
Hairy-Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes): An Overview
The hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes) is a small but powerful pollinator that benefits many flowers. Despite its small size, this bee plays an important role in preserving the health and beauty of the natural world. The hairy-footed flower bee is native to Europe and North Africa. It has a wide range, from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Middle East and Central Asia in the east. It has also been introduced to parts of North America, including Canada and the United States, in recent years. The genus Anthophora includes over 550 known species.
Taxonomy and Etymology
Species in biological taxonomy have two names: the genus name and the species descriptive. Anthophora plumipes, the binomial scientific name for hairy-footed flower bees, has the genus name as the first word and the species descriptive as the second. The majority of names are based on Latin or Greek. Anthophora is derived from the Greek words anthos (flower) and phorein (to bear or carry). As a result, Anthophora translates to "flower carrier" or "one who bears flowers." This is an appropriate name for the genus because they actively visit and collect nectar and pollen from flowers.
Plumipes is derived from the Latin words pluma (feather or plume) and pes (foot). Plumipes thus translates to "feather-footed." This is an appropriate moniker because the hairy-footed flower bee has conspicuous, dense tufts of hair on its hind legs.
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Physical Characteristics
Anthophora plumipes is a medium-sized bee. Females are slightly longer, measuring 0.5-0.6 inches (13-16 mm), than males, which measure 0.4-0.55 inches (11-14 mm). The average wingspan of the Hairy-footed Flower Bee is 0.86 - 1.0 inches (22 to 26 mm). The wingspan is measured from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other when the wings are fully extended. Female Anthophora plumipes have primarily black bodies covered in black setae (singularly seta). Setae are bristly hairs. The females have yellow-to-orange tufts of setae on their hind legs. Males have yellowish or cream-colored hairs (setae) on their backs and legs. These setae make hairy-footed flower bees excellent pollinators.
Anthophora plumipes have long tongues that they use to reach deep into flowers to gather nectar. They have large eyes that allow them to navigate and locate flowers.
Social Behavior and Nesting Habits
Anthophora plumipes are solitary bees. They do not live in colonies or have castes. They are also not aggressive and rarely sting humans unless provoked or threatened. Females build nests consisting of a series of brood cells. Each cell is stocked with pollen and nectar for the developing larvae. The female hairy-foot deposits one egg in each cell once the brood cells are complete. After each egg has been deposited and each brood cell has been sealed, the female bee seals the entrance to the nest and moves on to create another. Interestingly, the female determines the sex of her offspring. Fertilized eggs produce females, while unfertilized eggs produce males. Haplodiploidy is a characteristic of the order Hymenoptera.
Foraging Behavior and Pollination
Hairy-footed flower bees are active foragers who can be seen visiting flowers and collecting nectar and pollen. They have long tongues that allow them to reach the nectar deep within flowers, and they use their hairy legs to collect and transport pollen to their nests. These little bees hover in front of flowers before darting quickly into the flower to gather nectar and pollen. The hairy-footed flower bee emerges in the spring earlier than most other bee species.
A study in Japan found that bee-pollinated flowers had significantly higher fruit set and larger fruit size than hand-pollinated or open-pollinated flowers. The hairy-footed flower bees' generalist foraging behavior makes them important and versatile pollinators. They are not finicky when it comes to flower nectar, which is part of what makes them such amazing pollinators. Anthophora plumipes will visit a variety of flowers to gather nectar and pollen. As generalist foragers, hairy-footed flower bees play an important role in pollinating a diverse range of plant species. They are active early in the spring, making them key pollinators for early blooming flowers. However, they visit a wide range of plants, including fruit trees, willow, blackthorn, and clover.
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Habitat and Distribution
Anthophora plumipes can be found in a variety of habitats, including gardens, parks, meadows, and woodland rims. They prefer areas with a good supply of nectar and pollen, as well as nesting sites that are easy to excavate, such as loamy/sandy soil banks. Anthophora plumipes are habitat generalists. They can adapt to different types of environments and use a variety of nesting materials. However, they tend to prefer areas with a mix of vegetation and bare ground, as this provides a good diversity of forage and nesting sites. The hairy-footed flower bee is at home in a variety of environments, from urban areas to natural landscapes, as long as there are suitable nesting sites and a good supply of flowers for foraging.
Anthophora plumipes are ground nesters. Ground nesting is a common characteristic of many species of solitary bees because ground nests provide a safe and protected environment for developing larvae.
Threats and Predators
Anthophora plumipes are vulnerable to predation from a range of animals, including birds, spiders, and other insects. Flycatchers, shrikes, warblers, and sparrows will eat a hairy-footed flower bee if given the chance. Larger birds, such as woodpeckers and jays, have also been known to eat bees. Crab spiders (family Thomisidae), jumping spiders (family Salticidae), and orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) will either ambush these bees as they forage or snare them in their webs. Parasitoids are insects that lay their eggs on or inside the body of another insect (host), which is eventually killed by the developing parasitoid larvae.
Anthophora plumipes face a number of threats and predators. Habitat loss from destruction and degradation reduces the availability of suitable nesting sites and forage resources for Anthophora plumipes, making it harder for them to survive and reproduce. Exposure to pesticides and other agricultural chemicals is harmful to these little pollinators, particularly neonicotinoids, nicotine-based insecticides that cause bee paralysis.
Conservation Status
There is limited population data available specifically for Anthophora plumipes, but it is generally considered to be a common and widespread species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) does not have a conservation status assessment for Anthophora plumipes, likely because it is not considered to be a threatened species. Anthophora plumipes is affected by habitat loss and fragmentation and pesticide use. In some regions of the United Kingdom, the species has become increasingly common in urban areas, where it nests in the soft mortar of crumbling walls. Nesting in human-altered environments is a necessary evolutionary adaptation for these important pollinators.
Lifecycle
The lifecycle of the yellow-footed flower bee begins in late winter or early spring, when adult bees emerge from their underground nests. They have spent the winter in diapause, snug in their cocoons. The males emerge first and wait near the nesting sites for the females to emerge. Once the females emerge, the males compete for their attention, performing elaborate flight displays and releasing pheromones to attract them. After mating, females begin the search for suitable nesting sites, usually in sandy or well-drained soil. Using her powerful mandibles, she excavates a tunnel in the soil, creating a series of cells where she will deposit her eggs.
The female then gathers and stocks each cell with a mixture of pollen and nectar, which will serve as a food source for her developing larvae. The eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the pollen and nectar provided by their mother. As the larvae grow and develop, they molt several times before spinning a cocoon and entering the pupal stage. After a period of time, the adult bee emerges from the cocoon and chews its way out of the underground nest.
The entire lifecycle of Anthophora plumipes takes approximately one year. The bees spend the majority of their time underground as larvae and pupae. Adult bees only live for a few weeks or months, during which time they engage in important pollination activities and contribute to the next generation of bees. Hairy-footed flower bees are univoltine or monovoltine insects, which means they only produce one brood or generation per year.
Identifying Hairy-Footed Flower Bees
Female Anthophora plumipes have primarily black bodies covered in black setae (singularly seta). The females have yellow-to-orange tufts of setae on their hind legs. Males have yellowish or cream-colored hairs (setae) on their backs and legs.
The Importance of Native Bees
Bees are important indicators of environmental quality, are key in the continued existence of our wildlands, vital to sustainable pollination of crops, and serve as food that supports a diversity of other species. While honey bees are social, live in hives and cooperate with one another, most of our native bees are solitary, live in wood or underground tunnels and do not make honey. The hard working females mate, make nests, collect pollen for their young and lay eggs. Males live to mate and only pollinate inadvertently when they visit flowers for nectar to fuel their flight. Native bees come in various shapes and sizes from the somewhat intimidating Valley carpenter bee at one inch long (sometimes more) to tiny sweat bees that are less than one quarter inch. They also vary in color, shape, markings on their faces and legs, distribution of hairs on their bodies and other features that may require a magnifying glass to be seen.