8/5/2023 0 Comments Picture of drone bee![]() ![]() Worker bees also use their mandibles for a variety of vital tasks inside the hive – feeding larvae, turning wax scales into drawn comb, grooming themselves and the queen, removing debris from the hive, and many more.ĭrones have much smaller mandibles than workers, and they have jagged edges to help with cutting and biting. Workers need strong mandibles, and use them from the start of their lives when they chew their way out of the cell they are born in. The mandibles, or jaws, are different in worker bees and drones. Drones have smaller mandibles than workers They have no need for one to position eggs, and they don’t play a role in guarding the hive either, so they don’t need one as a weapon. That’s why worker bees die when they sting.ĭrones don’t have stingers, because they are not female. Because the stinger is barbed, it becomes lodged inside the skin of the victim, and tears out the venom sac from the bee’s abdomen. Worker bees use the stinger to defend the hive from predators, such as bears, skunks and mice. ![]() A stinger is actually a modified ovipositor, which serves as both a weapon and an apparatus that helps to lay and position eggs. ![]() Needless to say, this is a difficult task. Drones, on the other hand, have huge compound eyes that sit on the top of their head, and are so large that they touch each other.ĭrones need bigger eyes because they have to find a queen mid-flight in order to mate with her. However, drones have much larger compound eyes than workers.Ī worker bee’s compound eyes sit on either side of their head. All bees have five eyes – two big ones called compound eyes and three tiny ones called ocelli. If you only have one bee in front of you and want to tell whether it’s a drone or a worker, look closely at the eyes. If they weren’t powerful fliers, they wouldn’t be able to catch a queen in the air and mate with her. This is to facilitate their more developed wings.ĭrones spend the majority of their lives flying back and forth between drone congregation areas, searching for a queen to mate with. Drones have more powerful wings than workersĭrones have a larger thorax than worker bees. R., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 2. A worker’s head is smaller and more angular than a drone’s. Drones are also a couple of millimeters (0.1 of an inch) wider than workers.ĭrones have larger heads than worker bees too, that are rounder in shape. If you compare them to a drone from the same hive, the drone will usually be an extra 5mm (0.2 inches) or so in length. ![]() Drones are longer and wider than workers, and their shape is more like a barrel, whereas a worker’s abdomen is more pointed.Ī worker is typically between 10-15mm long (0.4-0.6 inches). The most noticeable difference between a drone and a worker bee is their size. Here are the ten main differences between drones and worker bees: 1. Worker bees, however, are smaller than drones – and their bodies are designed to perform a wide variety of tasks inside the hive. These attributes help them perform their only role – finding and mating with a queen. Drones are larger than workers, have bigger eyes and stronger wings. The only other type of bee inside the hive is the queen (and there is only one of her).ĭrones and workers may look similar at first glance, but they have a number of key differences. Drones (male honey bees) and workers (female honey bees) are the most common castes inside a beehive. ![]()
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