Feeding Kinematics and Nectar Intake of the Honey Bee Tongue

Zhu, Rengao; Lv, Hesong; Liu, Tianye; Yang, Yunqiang; Wu, Jianing; Yan, Shaoze

doi:10.1007/s10905-016-9561-5

Cited by 32 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…An analysis of the kinematics of frog tongues reveals that mucus and microscopic papillae on the tongue surface act together as a pressure-sensitive adhesive, assuring firm contact without the tongue peeling away from prey until it has been retracted into the oral cavity (Kleinteich and Gorb, 2015). In honeybees, erection of glossal hairs allows the tongue to trap nectar more effectively (Zhu et al, 2016). Cats (Reis et al, 2010) and dogs (Crompton and Musinsky, 2011) lap up fluids using inertial entrainment of the fluid in contact with the dorsal surface of the tongue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft-surface grasping: radular opening in Aplysia californica

Kehl

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Grasping soft, irregular material is challenging both for animals and robots. The feeding systems of many animals have adapted to this challenge. In particular, the feeding system of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica, a generalist herbivore, allows it to grasp and ingest seaweeds of varying shape, texture and toughness. On the surface of the grasper of A. californica is a structure known as the radula, a thin flexible cartilaginous sheet with fine teeth. Previous in vitro studies suggested that intrinsic muscles, I7, are responsible for opening the radula. Lesioning I7 in vivo does not prevent animals from grasping and ingesting food. New in vitro studies demonstrate that a set of fine muscle fibers on the ventral surface of the radula – the sub-radular fibers (SRFs) – mediate opening movements even if the I7 muscles are absent. Both in vitro and in vivo lesions demonstrate that removing the SRFs leads to profound deficits in radular opening, and significantly reduces feeding efficiency. A theoretical biomechanical analysis of the actions of the SRFs suggests that they induce the radular surface to open around a central crease in the radular surface and to arch the radular surface, allowing it to softly conform to irregular material. A three-dimensional model of the radular surface, based on in vivo observations and magnetic resonance imaging of intact animals, provides support for the biomechanical analysis. These results suggest how a soft grasper can work during feeding, and suggest novel designs for artificial soft graspers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft-surface grasping: radular opening in Aplysia californica

Kehl

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Section: Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nectar spur is not only a simple specialization for long‐proboscid pollinators

et al. 2017

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Since the time of Darwin, biologists have considered the floral nectar spur to be an adaptation representing a high degree of plant specialization. Nevertheless, some researchers suggest that nature is more complex and that even morphologically specialized plants attract a wide spectrum of visitors. We observed visitors on Impatiens burtonii (Balsaminaceae) and measured the depth of the proboscis insertion into the spur, the distance of the nectar surface from the spur entrance and the visitor's effectiveness. The hoverfly Melanostoma sp., with the shortest proboscis, was most active early in the morning and fed on pollen and nectar near the spur entrance. The honeybee Apis mellifera and the hoverfly Rhingia mecyana were the most frequent visitors before and after noon, respectively. Although R. mecyana, the only visitor able to reach the end of the spur, was the most frequent, it did not deposit the largest number of pollen grains per visit. Nectar spurs may function as complex structures allowing pollination by both short- and long-proboscid visitors and separating their spatial and temporal niches. Spurred plants should be considered as more generalized and exposed to more diverse selection pressures than previously believed.

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“…Syrphid mouthparts form a tubular sucking organ (proboscis and labella) with pumps operated by muscular contraction (Gilbert, 1981). By contrast, the mouthparts of the honeybee, a tongue (glossa) with erectable hairs (Snodgrass, 1956;Zhu et al, 2016), capture nectar on the outer surface (Kim and Bush, 2012), and with the shortest proboscis, sucks nectar remnants from the spur walls. Both Darwin's coevolutionary race hypothesis of Darwin (1862) and the pollinator shift hypothesis (Wasserthal, 1997;Whittall and Hodges, 2007) predict that during the evolution of long-spurred flowers, the short-proboscid pollinators are excluded from the pollination system, and the longproboscid pollinators are flower traits.…”

Section: Importance Of Morphological Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Soft Drink Feeding on Honeybee Mouth Parts Formation and the Effect of Supposed Malformation on the Quality of Gathering Nectar and Pollination

Edrees¹,

AL-Zahrani²,

Asiri³

2019

IJZI

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The morphological characters of honeybees were measured using a Scan Photo technique (SPT) that involves the use of a stereo binocular microscope and Photoshop program combined together. The body parts of a honeybee worker were scanned as images after they have been dissected. Photoshop program was used to view the images and their characters were measured using the ruler of the software program. While measuring the chosen morphometric characters, a significant difference was observed when the SPT and using a binocular microscope were compared. The measurements of 7 morphological characters of honeybee workers from nectar-feeding colonies were compared with those of Pepsi cola feeding colonies. There are more than 24 different subspecies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) classified based on their morphological characteristics. As a result, morphological characteristics are usually considered when classifying honeybees. Many authors for various reasons have used body morphological characteristics as well as sets of wings to classify subspecies of honeybees. Such characteristics have been defined overtime and sourced from diverse studies. Of all body morphological characteristics studied so far, wing venation characteristics have been given more attention. Up to now in Saudi Arabia, there are no specific review articles that focus mainly on Apis mellifera jemenitica body morphological characteristics. Consequently, information gathered from sampling and measurement methods, and factors affecting these characteristics especially mouthparts is to recognize the possibility of finding any changes in configuration as a result of feeding on soft drink. The morphology and functional anatomy of the mouthparts are examined by dissection, light microscopy, and supplemented by feeding type observations. This manuscript focuses on the differentiation of the proboscis which is formed by the glossa, in context with feeding from natural nectar and soft drink. In the literature, morphological innovations have been described for insects, particularly forbees.These innovations are critical for the production of differentiation in proboscis such as proboscis hair formation and modification. The present study showed that the proboscis of honeybees feeding on Pepsi is wider, thicker and very hairy compared to the natural feeding honeybee's proboscis. The morphological structures of the head, proboscis, hind leg, and wings were measured for the two groups of bees, the first naturally nourished with nectar, and the second feeding on the drink Pepsi Cola. The results showed significant differences in nectar and Pepsi feeding in different length measurements of head (

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Feeding Kinematics and Nectar Intake of the Honey Bee Tongue

Cited by 32 publications

References 42 publications

Soft-surface grasping: radular opening in Aplysia californica

Soft-surface grasping: radular opening in Aplysia californica

The nectar spur is not only a simple specialization for long‐proboscid pollinators

Impact of Soft Drink Feeding on Honeybee Mouth Parts Formation and the Effect of Supposed Malformation on the Quality of Gathering Nectar and Pollination

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