… This, too, occurs during flight.
This is from Insects and Flowers: The Biology of a Partnership by Friedrich G. Barth (1991):
… After visiting a “pollen flower” a bee or bumblebee looks as though it has been wallowing in a tub of pollen. But as it is flying to the next flower it cleans the pollen up, using the hindlegs — which are specially equipped for the job — with the greatest agility.
[line break added] The first of the five segments of the foot (tarsus) of the hindleg is very wide, with several rows of bristles running perpendicular to the long axis of the leg on its inner surface. This is the “brush.” With the brushes on its two hindlegs, the worker bee gathers the pollen out of its hairy pelt while still in flight. Then a “comb” at the lower end of the hindleg tibia is used to comb the pollen out of the brush.
[line break added] Obviously this maneuver requires both hindlegs; the right comb works on the left brush and the left comb on the right. This, too, occurs during flight. So does the last part of this action, which finally brings the pollen into the “luggage compartment” known technically as the pollen basket. This is a hollow in the outer surface of the extra-wide tibia of the hindleg, a surface that is bare except for the sturdy bristles encircling the hollow.
[line break added] A spur juts out from the “heel” (the upper end of the first tarsal segment) of the hindleg, curving outward so that it can be pressed against the inside of the comb on this leg. As the comb scrapes downward, the pressure from this spur forces the pollen into the lower end of the basket. One load after another is pushed in, until the basket is full. A thick bristle helps to hold the mass in place.
[line break added] The middle legs beat and compress the pollen clump, which — depending on what the flowers had to offer and on the demand at home — can weigh as much as ten milligrams and contain as many as a million pollen grains. This solid mass is so firmly attached that it is not lost even though the flight to the hive may cover a mile or more. It helps, too, that while collecting the pollen the bee moistens it with some honey it has brought along.
My most recent previous post from Barth’s book is here.
-Julie
Coloring 