The pollen basket or corbicula (plural corbiculae) is part of the
tibia
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
on the hind legs of certain species of
bees. They use the structure in harvesting
pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
and carrying it to the nest or hive. Other species of bees have
scopae instead.
Etymology
There was little formal description of the corbicula before
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
explained the biological function of
pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
in the mid-18th century. In English the first edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' described the structure in 1771 without giving it any special name.
The second edition, 1777, refers to the corbicula simply as the "basket". By 1802
William Kirby had introduced the
New Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
term into English. He had borrowed it, with acknowledgement, from
Réaumur. Like other
Latin anatomical terms, this had the advantages of specificity, international acceptability, and culture neutrality.
By 1820 the term ''pollen-basket'' seems to have gained acceptance in
beekeeping
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
,
[ extracted in ] though a century later a compendium of entomological terminology recognised ''pollen-plate'' and without including the term ''pollen-basket''.
[Smith, John. B. Explanation of terms used in entomology. Pub: Brooklyn Entomological Society 1906. May be downloaded from]
/ref> A century later, the authors of " Augustus Daniel Imms, Imms" included only the terms scopa and corbicula in the index, with ''pollen basket'' in the text.
is a diminutive of , a basket or pannier.[Ainsworth, Robert; Eds: Morell, Thomas; Carey, John , An Abridgment of Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary, 13th ed. , London 1834] It is the singular, with plural , but since at least some authors have thought to be the plural of a non-existent neuter form .
Structure and function
Bees in four tribes of the family Apidae
Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...
, subfamily Apinae
The Apinae are the subfamily that includes the majority of bees in the family Apidae. It includes the familiar " corbiculate" (pollen basket) bees—bumblebees, honey bees, orchid bees, stingless bees, Africanized bees, and the extinct genus '' ...
have corbiculae: the honey bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current co ...
s, bumblebees
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...
, stingless bee
Stingless bees, sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees (about 550 described species), comprising the tribe Meliponini (or subtribe Meliponina according to other authors). They belong in the family A ...
s, and orchid bees
The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior.
Description
Most of the tribe's species ...
. The corbicula is a polished cavity surrounded by a fringe of hairs, into which the bee collects the pollen; most other bees possess a structure called the scopa
''Scopa'' (; literally "broom") is an Italian card game, and one of the three major national card games in Italy, the others being '' Briscola'' and ''Tresette''. It is also popular in Argentina and Brazil, brought in by Italian immigrants, most ...
, which is similar in function, but is a dense mass of branched hairs into which pollen is pressed, with pollen grains held in place in the narrow spaces between the hairs. A honey bee moistens the forelegs with its protruding tongue and brushes the pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
that has collected on its head, body and forward appendages to the hind legs. The pollen is transferred to the pollen comb on the hind legs and then combed, pressed, compacted, and transferred to the corbicula on the outside surface of the tibia of the hind legs.
In ''Apis'' species, a single hair functions as a pin that secures the middle of the pollen load. Either honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
or nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...
is used to moisten the dry pollen, producing the product known as bee pollen
Bee pollen, also known as bee bread and ambrosia, is a ball or pellet of field-gathered flower pollen packed by worker honeybees, and used as the primary food source for the hive. It consists of simple sugars, protein, minerals and vitamins, ...
or bee bread. The mixing of the pollen with nectar or honey changes the color of the pollen. The color of the pollen can help identify the pollen source
The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood. For the plant, the pollinizer, this ...
.[Dorothy Hodges, ''The Pollen Loads of the Honeybee'', published by Bee Research Association, 1952]
References
{{reflist, 30em
Bees
Insect anatomy