Bee Anatomy Diagram

bee anatomy diagram
A male bee with body parts labeled (image via the USDA Forest Service)

As this bee anatomy diagram illustrates, bees, like all other insects, have bodies made up of three basic components: head, thorax, and abdomen. Bees have six legs and two pairs of wings. A bee’s head is topped with segmented antennae that allow the insect to touch and smell, it sees out of two “compound” eyes and three “simple” eyes, and its mandibles are used for everything else: biting, manipulating wax and pollen, and digging. Ecologically, bees are separated into two groups based on the the length of its proboscis, which is an elongated mouthpart that is tubular and flexible and used to collect nectar from flowers. The bee’s thorax features its two pairs of membranous wings and six legs. The abdomen is made up of six segments in females and seven segments in males (drones). In honey bees and bumble bees, the abdomen also houses the wax glands. In female bees, it also houses the stinger, which is a modified organ through which the female deposits eggs. Female worker bees also have pollen baskets or transport structures made of stiff hairs on the hind legs.