Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
ohai.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A cozy, fast and secure Mastodon server where everyone is welcome. Run by the folks at ohai.is.

Administered by:

Server stats:

1.8K
active users

ohai.social: AboutStatusProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.4.0-nightly.2025-04-15

#apidae

1 post1 participant0 posts today
Public
The Secret Life Of Plants🌱

Die #Hummeln (#Bombus) sind eine zu den Echten #Bienen gehörende Gattung staatenbildender #Insekten.

Die im weiblichen Geschlecht über einen Wehrstachel verfügenden Hautflügler (#Hymenoptera) gehören zu den #Stechimmen, auch Wehrimmen genannt.

Scheint wohl ein Missverständnis zu sein...

In einem einzigen #taz Artikel... 🐝

"Hummeln sind als #Bestäuber ähnlich wichtig wie #Bienen."

"Fehlen #Hummeln und Bienen, ist das für #Mensch wie #Tierwelt ein Riesenproblem."

"Wissenschaftler warnen, dass der Wildbienen- und Hummelschwund..."

#Hummeln sind #Bienen / #Wildbienen, nichts anderes.

Teilordnung: Stechimmen (#Aculeata)
Überfamilie: #Apoidea
Bienen (#Apiformes)
Familie: Echte Bienen (#Apidae)
Unterfamilie: #Apinae
#Artenvielfalt #Biodiversität #Insekten #Ressourcen #Wildbiene #Wildbienen #Bestäuber #artenschutz #Artenvielfalt

Hummel vor Blättern
Public
neville park

Yesterday I saw something I'd never noticed before—honeybees on milkweed with lots of little yellow-and-black things, similar to maple keys, stuck on their feet! It turns out they are called pollinia and are sticky packages of pollen that are part of the milkweed flower. Flying insects visiting the milkweed pick up these structures and carry them to other plants.

I only saw them on honeybees, not the bumblebees, but they have absolutely been recorded with pollinia (see e. g. <texasento.net/pollinia.htm>), so I must not have been looking at enough.

This also explains why I sometimes find dead bees stuck in milkweed flowers. I just assumed they died of old age or something while on the job…but they had gotten stuck and were unable to break free!

More reading:
- eyeonnature.wordpress.com/2012
- collection.ento.vt.edu/2016/08
- ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postd

A honeybee resting on a milkweed leaf with a front foot dangling off the edge. Stuck to the claws are a cluster of small rounded shiny black bits with flattened, teardrop-shaped translucent golden-yellow bits attached to them.
Top-down view of another bee with several of the same black-and-yellow things stuck on a front foot. You can see its other feet (out of focus) also have a few.
Close-up shot of honeybee foot with attached milkweed pollinia. The yellow bits have broken off some of them.
Close-up of a milkweed flower with pollinia attached, showing how they are arrayed around the centre of the blossom.
#bugstodon#insects#bees
ExploreLive feeds
About