How do bees eat?

[Mellifera Crofter]

I'm always fascinated to see my bees eating, little red tongues protruding - but how do they actually eat? I can't see them flicking their tongues and I doubt that they're slurping or sucking - so how do they get the food into their mouths?

I googled for an answer, but did not find any.

Kitta

[Jimbo]

Hi Kitta,
I got this from the tinternet

Proboscis. The proboscis of the honey bee is simply a long, slender, hairy tongue that acts as a straw to bring the liquid food (nectar, honey and water) to the mouth. When in use, the tongue moves rapidly back and forth while the flexible tip performs a lapping mo tion. After feeding, the proboscis is drawn up and folded behind the head. Bees can eat fine particles like pollen, which is used as a source of protein, but cannot handle big particles.

Jimbo

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thank you, Jimbo. I've never noticed this 'rapid movement', but I think I can see the 'flexible tip' in a rather good photograph of bees around a piece of honeycomb in the 2012 Bee Craft Calendar (June).

Kitta

[Jimbo]

The probiscus is different lengths for the different sub species of bee. By measuring the length you can determine if you have pure Amm. I still have to figure out how to get my bees to stick their tongues out for me to measure. Anybody know how to get them to do this?

[gavin]

I know that Dave Cushman was talking about designs for a glossimeter about 4 years ago but he hadn't made them at the time. Don't know quite how they would work. Different depth cavities and you let the bees empty the ones they can reach?

Could you just ask them nicely to extend their tongues into a glass microcapillary tube and watch down a microscope to see how far they can reach?

[gavin]

These guys knew how to assess tongue length. Not sure whether I can get access to any at work.

Hawkins 1969

http://journals.cambridge.org/action...21859600020128

Alpatov 1929

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2808231

Harder et al. 1982

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z82-148