What insects live in families. Bees and ants are social insects lesson plan on the topic. III. Learning new material
Social insects. Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. However, there is also social insects. These include termites, bumblebees, wasps, ants, and bees. The community of these insects is one large extended family. There are separate groups in the family that perform different functions: they collect food, share it with each other, care for the larvae, and guard the nest.
Most of the ants living in the anthill (Fig. 104) are wingless workers - these are sterile females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. Besides them, the queen lives in the anthill. She also doesn't have wings. She breaks them off after the mating flight. She lays eggs all her life, and all the care for the anthill lies with the working ants. They obtain food, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, and defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies.
Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear in the anthill from pupae and set off on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and establish a new anthill. Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants protect, “graze” these insects feeding on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them.
Rice. 104. Cross section of an anthill: 1 - chambers with eggs; 2 - chambers with larvae: 3 - chambers with pupae
Other types of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers to feed on them, bringing in crushed plant leaves. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae, legs and heads. In addition, they have a “chemical language” - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. Ants recognize relatives and enemies by smell.
The honey bee is a social insect. A large family of bees numbers up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive (Fig. 105, A). In a hive, most insects are worker bees. These are sterile females in which a modified ovipositor serves as a sting. They clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays up to 2000 eggs per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May - June, a new queen and several dozen males, called drones, appear in the bee colony from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the queen. The old female leaves the hive with some of the worker bees - swarming occurs. Beekeepers collect the swarm and place it in a new hive. In the fall, worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.
Rice. 105. Bees: A - bee hive; B - diagram of the “dance” of bees
All care for the hive lies with the worker bees: growing up, each worker bee changes several “professions”. First, they build honeycombs, clean the cells, feed the larvae, take food from arriving bees and distribute it in the hive, ventilate the hive, guard it and, finally, begin to fly out of the hive for nectar. Bees communicate with each other, like ants, through touch and secretions.
However, only bees have a “dance language”. With the help of special body movements and movements, one bee can tell others where nectar-rich bees are located. flowering plants(Fig. 105, B). A scout bee “dances” in the hive on the honeycomb.
The complex behavior of social insects is called instinctive, because instinct is a set of innate forms of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain species of animal. The behavior of social insects is so complex that it leads many people to believe that they are intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive and unconscious.
Humans have been breeding honey bees for a long time. It is spread all over to the globe. A person receives wax, honey, various medicines(propolis, bee venom, bee jelly).
On the underside of the worker bee's abdomen there are special glands that secrete wax. Bees use it to build honeycombs. On the hind legs of bees there are areas surrounded by long chitinous hairs - baskets. Bees crawl on flowers, and pollen gets on the hairs of their bodies. Then the bee cleans the pollen into the basket using special brushes on its legs. Soon a lump of pollen forms there - pollen, which the bee transfers to the hive. Bee bread - pollen soaked in honey - serves as a reserve of protein food for the bee colony.
Worker bees have a peculiar extension of the esophagus - a honey goiter. From the nectar collected from flowers, which has passed through the honey sac, the main supply of food for the bee colony is formed - honey. The cells are filled with honey and covered by the bees with a thin wax layer. In a year you can get up to 100 kg of honey from one bee colony.
Although people have been raising bees for a long time, collapsible frame hives were invented relatively recently - in 1814. Russian beekeeper P.I. Prokopovich. Before this, in order to extract honey from a bee’s nest, which, as a rule, was located in a hollowed-out tree log, it was necessary to break the honeycomb, that is, to ruin the bee family. The surviving swarm of bees can live independently, without human help. This indicates that bees are not yet fully domesticated.
Silkworm. There are other insects that are beneficial to humans. These are silkworms. This the only insect, not found in nature in the wild (Fig. 106). Its females even “forgot how” to fly. An adult insect is a thick butterfly with whitish wings with a span of up to 6 cm. The caterpillars of this silkworm eat only mulberry or mulberry leaves.
Rice. 106. Stages of development of the silkworm: 1 - female laying eggs; 2 - caterpillar; 3 - cocoon formation; 5 - pupae in a cocoon
Scientists suggest that in the wild, the ancestor of the silkworm lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. Silkworms began to be bred in China around 3000 BC. e. Nowadays, this insect is completely domesticated. Now it is bred in China, Japan, Indochina, Southern Europe, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus - where the mulberry tree grows. There are several dozen breeds of silkworms, varying in length, strength and color of the silk thread they produce.
Female silkworms lay eggs (each - up to 600 eggs), which are called grena. Caterpillars emerge from them. These caterpillars are kept in special rooms on food shelves and fed with mulberry leaves. During pupation, each caterpillar spins a cocoon for three days from a very thin thread, the length of which reaches 1500 m.
Silk thread is secreted by a special silk gland located on lower lip caterpillars.
Sericulture breeders collect the finished cocoons, treat them with hot steam, and then use special machines to unwind the silk threads. Some of the cocoons are left for breeding butterflies.
Silk is used in light industry to produce fabrics, in medicine (it is used to make threads for stitching wounds) and in aviation.
Insect protection. A person greatly influences environment(plows up virgin steppes, cuts down forests, uses pesticides). Therefore, the numbers of many animal species, including insects, are declining. Some species are on the verge of extinction. Due to this rare species insects are taken under oxpairy. Red Books have been created, which contain information about specially protected rare animals (Fig. 107), the reasons for their plight and protection measures. Among the insects of our country listed in the Red Book, there is the steppe racket - a large steppe grasshopper that lives in the steppes in southern Russia. The distribution area of this grasshopper has decreased due to the plowing of virgin steppes. Of the beetles, several species of large predatory beetles - ground beetles - have found their way onto the pages of the Red Book. In the south Far East The largest beetle in Russia is protected - the relic woodcutter, whose body length reaches 10.8 cm, the length of the larvae up to 17 cm. It was included in the pages of the Red Book in connection with the cutting down of old trees, in the wood of which its larvae develop.
Rice. 107. Rare and protected insects: 1 - steppe racket; 2 - Apollo; 3 - Far Eastern relic woodcutter; 4 - Caucasian ground beetle; 5 - wall bumblebee; 6 - mother of pearl zenobia
Many species of bumblebees are also listed in the Red Book, for example the variable bumblebee and the steppe bumblebee. Among the butterflies listed in the Red Book are Apollo, mpemosina, and mother-of-pearl zenobia. They are protected by the Law “On the Protection of Wildlife”.
The role of insects in natural communities is enormous. Insects are the most important pollinators of flowering plants. They serve as food for various invertebrates (spiders, centipedes), fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and animals, even some insectivorous plants (sundews). Among the insects there are many orderlies who help process minerals organic remains of plants and animals. Soil insects and their larvae increase soil fertility by mixing and fertilizing it with their excrement. The role of insects in the cycle of substances in nature is great.
Exercises based on the material covered
- What features of behavior and lifestyle are characteristic of the inhabitants of the anthill?
- Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
- Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their meaning in nature and in human life.
- Based on what characteristics are the silkworm classified as domestic animals? What is the value in economic activity does this insect have a person?
Target: reveal the structural features of the honey bee in connection with the social way of life, its role in nature and in human life.
Lesson type: a lesson in analytical thinking.
Lesson progress
group work
I. Motivational talk
(the lesson begins by asking the children questions about the family):
- What can you say about your family?
- How can you describe your family in one word?
- Why is your family the friendliest?
Family - seven selves, all together. Even though we study insects, family relationships is among them. These insects include bees and ants. Today we will talk about bees.
II . Intrigue
In the entire history of mankind, there is no more studied and, at the same time, more mysterious insect than the bee. Why? You will learn about this at the end of the lesson.
III. Memory
Work in groups:
Group 1: Development with complete transformation
Group 2: Development with incomplete transformation
Group 3: What are the similarities and differences between the 2 types of transformation. What is the advantage of development with complete transformation.
IV. Learning new material (return to intrigue)
Bees are social insects. Community - big family. They share food with each other and look after each other.
The uterus has a long body and an elongated abdomen. Drones are medium-sized with large eyes. Worker bees have devices for collecting pollen (brush, basket, mirror)
There are 100 thousand worker bees in a family; they clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays up to 2000 eggs per day. She lives for about five years. Drones do not take any part in the work. The main task is fertilization of the uterus. In the fall, worker bees expel the drones from the hive and they die. All care of the hive lies with the worker bees6. Growing up, each worker bee changes several “professions”. She builds honeycombs, cleans the cells, feeds the larvae, takes food from arriving bees and distributes it in the hive, ventilates the hive, guards it and finally begins to fly out of the hive for nectar. Bees communicate with each other through touch and secretions. Bees have a “dance language.” The complex behavior of social insects is instinct.
Bees build honeycombs. They crawl on flowers and pollen gets on the hairs of the insect's body. Then the bee cleans the pollen into the basket with help. Special brushes. Soon a ball of pollen will form there. Bee bread is pollen soaked in honey. Bees have an enlarged goiter - a honey goiter. Honey is formed there. A bee colony receives 100 kg of honey per year. (presentation)
V. Effective consolidation
Group 1: fill out the table:
Group 2: What are the similarities between a queen bee, a drone and a worker bee?
Group 3: What products do bees provide? How they are formed.
Tasks for all groups:
Explain the terms: queen, drone, mirror, honeycomb, basket, goiter, beebread, swarming, instinct, “language of bees.”
Explain the statements:
If bees die out on earth, humanity will have 4 years left to live.
Albert EinsteinBees can tell their comrades where flowers with sweet nectar are located.
AristotleDrink comes from the bellies of bees different colors, which brings healing to people. Indeed, in this is a sign for a people who reflect.
Koran
VI. Unraveling the intrigue
In the entire history of mankind, there is no more studied and, at the same time, more mysterious insect than the bee. Moreover, it can be argued that man owes his origin to a large extent to the bee. After all, it was she who, over millions of years, tirelessly pollinating plants, developed and improved flora planets, and with it the animal world.
For many millennia it has lived next to humans, but nothing and no one can tame it. At the same time, it is the bee, which has a terrible weapon against enemies, that allows a person to unceremoniously invade his home and make any (within reason) changes and rearrangements in it, and once a year take away what is vital - his food.
VII. Homework assignment
Paragraph 28. Type arthropods, preparation for test work.
The clusters of mosquitoes or butterflies that you may have observed are temporary, as these insects can live alone. But there are species of insects that exist only because individual individuals live in organized communities - colonies (families). Such insects are called social. How are their colonies organized?
Social insects (Fig. 26.1) include termites, ants, some types of bees, wasps, and bumblebees. A colony must have a uterus (queen) - a fertile female. The Utermite queen always has a “spouse” (king) living with her. Many sterile offspring form a worker caste. In bees it consists of females, and in termites there are both females and males among the workers. How are responsibilities distributed among the members of the colony?
The uterus is “responsible” for procreation, therefore it continuously lays eggs. From them, infertile workers, males capable of reproduction, and females - future queens - develop. Typically, the queen lives longer than her infertile offspring: for bees - up to 5 years, for ants - 6-7 years, for termites - over 20 years. In Hymenoptera, males (not like bees) do not live long in a family; they fly away to meet fertile females from other families and fertilize them.
Workers perform all duties to ensure the “everyday life” of the family and its protection. They build a nest with chambers for eggs and larvae, clean it, protect the approaches to the nest, and destroy enemies that penetrate it. Workers who find sources of food, collect it, and carry it to the house (Fig. 26.2) are called foragers. They feed the queen and larvae until they turn into pupae. Material from the site
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| Rice. 26.2. Foraging ants with prey |
A worker bee usually performs one type of work or another, depending on its age. In ants and termites, the worker caste is divided from the very beginning of their lives into soldiers and foragers. The soldiers defend the nest, wage territorial wars, but cannot find food themselves. The physique of insect foragers and insect soldiers is different: soldiers have adaptations for defense and attack.
Each member of the colony has a program of instinctive behavior that determines his responsibilities. Members of the colony cannot live independently; reproduction of such insects is possible only in the presence of a family, therefore the existence of their species depends on the well-being of the colony.
On this page there is material on the following topics:
Class: 7
Presentation for the lesson
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Lesson objectives:
Educational:
- study the behavioral characteristics of social insects;
- study the diversity of social insects;
- study the role of social insects in nature and human life.
Educational:
- activate and develop the mental activity of students through problem-based learning;
- develop students' creative skills;
- develop the ability to highlight the main points from the teacher’s story, textbook material and additional materials.
Educators:
- education of active creative personality a student who can see, pose and solve non-standard educational problems;
- fostering a sustainable interest in the subject of biology;
- fostering a caring attitude towards social insects by identifying their role in nature and human life.
Knowledge that students should master at the end of the lesson:
- Social insects include termites, bumblebees, wasps, bees, ants;
- the ant family consists of a wingless female queen, worker ants, and larvae; males participate only in fertilizing females, after which they die. Within the family there is a distribution of responsibilities;
- ants regulate the number of forest pests;
- a bee colony consists of a queen, drones, worker bees and larvae; drones take part in the fertilization of females, after which they die.
- There is a distribution of responsibilities within the bee colony;
- bees have complex instinctive behavior, which is manifested in the complex actions performed by bees in the process of work, in their careful care of the offspring, in the appropriateness of the division of labor between family members, in their amazing construction art;
- bees and their metabolic products are of great practical importance in nature and human life.
Lesson progress
I. Organizational moment(5 minutes)
The teacher welcomes students and notes those who are absent in the journal.
II. Updating knowledge on a previously studied topic: “Types of development of insects.” (10 minutes)
Frontal survey:
How do insects develop with complete metamorphosis?
How does development with incomplete transformation differ from development with complete transformation?
Insects of what type of development have a greater advantage and why?
III. Learning new material
Learning new material begins with the topic of the lesson. In a traditional lesson, the teacher usually writes the topic of the lesson on the board at the beginning of the lesson, i.e. gives in finished form.
The purpose of a problem lesson when setting a topic is creative activity students.
From the very beginning of learning new material, the student must think, analyze, and reason.
We will try to make sure that the student, answering the questions, formulates the topic of the lesson himself.
To do this, we will initially divide the topic of the lesson into two subtopics:
- Bees and ants are social insects.
- Beneficial insects.
These subtopics are not communicated to students in a ready-made form; we formulated them for ourselves in order to clearly think through the questions that lead students to these subtopics in the future.
We develop a dialogue that encourages students to understand the topic of the lesson.
Dialogue leading to the topic, creating a problematic situation:
Task 1 (5 minutes)
Students are offered a list of words that characterize an insect in a certain way. In this case, these are bees and ants.
Teacher: Before you are two rows of words, each of them characterizes a specific insect. I suggest you break up into pairs and think: What kind of insects are these? What do you know about these insects?
FOREST, TREE, HOUSING, FAMILY, NECTAR, HONEY.
FOREST, STUM, HILL, FAMILY, APHID.
After students have arrived at the correct answer, they are asked to complete the following task:
Task 2 (10 minutes)
To create a problematic situation, I propose to compare the hierarchy of social insects with the hierarchy that exists in our school.
To do this, students are offered three diagrams on the board:
Students are asked to look at these diagrams and answer the question: What do the presented diagrams have in common?
Teacher: Before you are presented diagrams (see Appendix) that depict the hierarchy in bee and ant families and the hierarchy of our school. What do these three schemes have in common?
Students: Both insects and people have a division of responsibilities.
Teacher: Right. Let's think about what society as a whole is?
Students: This is bringing people together.
Teacher: What unites them?
Students: Any activity.
Teacher: Right. Society is a group of people united by collective activity. Do you think ants and bees work together? If yes, why do you think so?
Students: Because they have a division of responsibilities, they work together and form a family.
Students: Can.
Teacher: Right. Let’s write down the first topic of today’s lesson: “Bees and ants are social insects.”
Teacher: Guys, how many of you know what an anthill is and what a beehive is?
Students: An anthill is the home of ants, and a hive is the home of bees.
Teacher: Do you think all ants form a family, or are there ants that live alone?
Students: No, all ants form a family.
Teacher: Why can't ants live alone?
Students: They will die because, for example, the queen cannot simultaneously lay eggs and guard the anthill.
Teacher: Now think and answer my question: Do you think that if bees are also social insects, then the distribution of responsibilities will be the same or different?
Students: The distribution of responsibilities will be similar.
Task 3 (10 minutes)
Students are asked to work with the text of the textbook and create a table that will reflect in more detail the composition of the bee and ant families, as well as the functions that they perform in the family.
Previously, the diagrams presented on the board must be removed in order to organize the search activity of the students, as well as to use their memory, to see how well they remember what they previously saw on the board.
Teacher: guys, open the textbook on page 135 (Table 5). I suggest you come up with and fill out a table in which you must determine the composition of the bee and ant families, as well as indicate the role they perform in the family. The diagram you saw on the board at the beginning of the lesson can serve as a hint.
Table. Composition of ant and bee families:
| Bee family | Ant family | ||
| Family member | Features, role | Family member | Features, role |
| Uterus | The main bee is larger in size than the other bees and lays eggs. | Uterus (queen) | Wingless female, breaks off wings after mating flight. The role is to lay eggs. |
| Drone | Male. The role is to fertilize females. After fertilization, the males are expelled from the hive and die. | Male | Winged individuals. The role is to fertilize females. After mating, the males die. |
| Worker bees | Infertile females, the ovipositor is modified into a stinger. Role: clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, protect the hive from enemies. |
Worker ant | Infertile females that do not have wings. The role is to clean the anthill, collect food, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the anthill from enemies. |
While completing the task, the teacher makes sure that the whole class is involved in the work, approaches the students, monitors the progress of the task, and makes corrections if necessary.
After completing the task, the teacher asks questions to the class:
- Did everyone complete the task?
- What difficulties arose when completing the task, what was not clear?
If questions arise, the teacher makes appropriate explanations and additions. If all students completed the task and no questions arose, then the teacher proceeds to the next task, and checks the quality of the table at the end of the lesson when consolidating the learned material.
Task 4 (15 minutes)
When completing this task, students’ search activities are organized. Students are divided into three groups (the division can be done according to the rows in the classroom). The teacher asks each row of students one problematic question. After that, students are given time to think and write down the answer to the question in their notebooks. The teacher asks the students how they can answer this question and listens to all opinions. Next, he distributes the text on cards, with the help of which the students must find the answer to the question posed. Students write down their answers in notebooks, after which work is organized to exchange information, and finally, results are summed up and conclusions are formulated.
Card No. 1
Problematic question: What advantages does a social lifestyle give to ants and bees?
Families of social insects usually build large dwellings, the creation of which is beyond the power of single species. The presence of such a dwelling, sometimes also very durable (termite mounds), increases the protection of both the insects themselves and, what is much more important, their offspring and food supplies that can be stored in such a dwelling. Due to joint activities social insects (bees, ants) can maintain an optimal microclimate (temperature, humidity) in their homes, which is inaccessible to solitary species.
The possibility of joint action provides important advantages. Together you can defend yourself against larger enemies and take possession of larger prey that is inaccessible to a single insect of the same size (ants).
Card No. 2
Problematic question: Why does an ant need an anthill?
An anthill is a nest, the home of an ant family. Ants use their domed nests to trap sun rays and heat accumulation.
Anthills consist of needles, small twigs, pieces of bark and plant debris. At first glance, it seems that all this garbage is scattered randomly. However, it turns out that even in the heaviest rain, the anthill practically does not get wet.
The height of anthills is usually 0.5-0.7 m, but sometimes they reach a height of 1.5 m. The starting point for building a nest is often an old stump. The population of medium-sized nests is about 500,000 individuals, and in large ones there are up to a million ants. Each family owns a separate, protected territory, into which other ants are not allowed. On it, ants build “scent” roads along which food products and building materials are transported.
Ants are very strong and successfully deliver not only small insects, but also superior in mass. If the prey is very large, then they transport it collectively. When observing them, it may seem that they are not helping, but only hindering each other - everyone is pulling in their own direction. However, since all ants have the same general desire, the prey eventually ends up in the anthill.
Thus, a joint lifestyle allows ants to build large dwellings, which increase the security of both the insects themselves and their offspring and food supplies. Through joint activity, ants (social insects) can maintain an optimal microclimate (temperature, humidity) in their homes, which is inaccessible to single species.
Card No. 3
Problem question: How do ants communicate?
Text (http://edu.zelenogorsk.ru/projs/eko/bespozv/nas35.html):
When communicating with each other, ants use a variety of signals, mainly by touching each other with their antennae, legs, and heads. Chemical signals are also used. Everyone knows that disturbed ants take a defensive pose: they rise high on their hind legs and point the end of their abdomen forward. And immediately there is a pungent smell. This ant sprayed out a liquid consisting of formic acid and an alarm substance - undecane. It should be noted that most ants, although they belong to the stinging hymenoptera, do not have a sting. However, they still have poisonous glands at the end of their abdomen. How do they use them? The ant has powerful jaws, with which it bites the enemy when attacking or defending. At the same time, he bends his abdomen so that its end is near the head, and sprays poison into the wound inflicted by his jaws. If there are other ants nearby, then the smell of the sprayed liquid is perceived by them as an alarm signal, and they immediately join the first ant. And on the roads along which the ants run from the anthill and to the anthill, they secrete other, so-called trace substances that allow them not to go astray. All ants from the same nest have a common smell, which allows them to recognize each other and prevent ants from other people's nests from entering their nest.
Teacher: Do you think the behavior of social insects is complex?
Students: yes.
Teacher: Does this mean that these insects have intelligence?
Students: probably means.
Teacher: Do any of you know what instinct is?
Students express their opinions. Thus, a problem arises and various hypotheses are put forward. Students are asked to solve this problem using the textbook.
Teacher: to solve this problem, let's turn to the textbook and write down what instinct is, and whether insects really have intelligence.
Students are asked to turn to page 137, find and write down information about what instinct is.
An example entry in a notebook:
Instinct is a set of innate aspects of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain species of animal.
The behavior of bees, ants and some other animals is so complex and surprising that it leads people to believe that it is intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive and unconscious.
Teacher: Guys, do you think insects are useful or harmful?
Students: Helpful.
Teacher: We write down the second subtopic of our lesson in our notebooks: “Beneficial insects.” (10 minutes)
Teacher: Which ones beneficial insects You know?
Students: ants, bees, beetles, silkworms.
Teacher: What benefits do these insects bring?
Students: honey, silk, eat harmful insects...
Teacher: Do any of you know who the silkworm is and what it is famous for?
Students express their versions, after which they are asked to turn to the text of the textbook and answer the following questions:
Where is the silkworm found in nature? (a question for attentiveness, students must answer that the silkworm is a completely domesticated animal and does not occur in nature).
- What does an adult silkworm insect look like and why was this insect given such a name?
- How does a person obtain silk using the silkworm?
IV. Reflection.(5 minutes)
Frontal survey of students:
- What insects are social?
- Name the composition and characteristics of the bee family.
- Name the composition and characteristics of the ant family.
- Why is the behavior of social insects complex but not intelligent?
- What insects are considered beneficial, what benefits do they bring?
- What insects have humans domesticated? What benefits do they bring?
V. Homework.
Paragraph 28, questions after the paragraph, notes in a notebook;
Answer the following questions in writing:
The adult silkworm moth does not feed. Her mouth organs are not developed. How does this insect live?
How do bees get honey?
Educational literature
Biology: 7th grade: textbook for students of general education institutions: in 2 hours. Part 1 / V.M. Konstantinov, V.G. Babenko, V.S. Kuchmenko: ed. prof. I.N. Ponomareva, - 3rd ed. reworked – M.: Ventana-Graf. 2009. – 160 p.: ill.
Many species of highly developed insects (termites, bees, ants, wasps) live in complex communities. They have such a well-calibrated organization that sometimes they resemble a “superorganism” that is driven by the queen.
LARGE FAMILIES
In the numerous “states” of insects that form termites, ants, some species of bees and wasps, each member of the community - the queen, workers, soldiers and drones - performs its own, clearly regulated function. This division of labor is the main condition for the existence of the colony. Individual individuals of such a community are so dependent on each other that they can no longer exist independently. For example, worker termites are guarded by well-armed soldiers, who are unable to survive without workers, since they cannot obtain food on their own and depend on the workers to feed them. In turn, workers and soldiers are not able to reproduce. The function of reproducing offspring lies on the uterus , around which the colony is formed. The queen lives inside the nest, she is fed by workers, and soldiers protect her. All the bees of one colony, and there can be about 80,000 of them, are descendants of one queen and older sisters to newborn individuals, therefore they are all genetic twins. have a highly developed social instinct.
FORMATION OF THE COLONY
In autumn, with the onset of cold weather, all individuals of the wasp colony die, with the exception of fertilized queens. Shortly before the nest disappears, several mature pairs appear in the wasp colony, which fly away and mate. The males soon die, and the females, sensing the approach of winter, hide in warm places. In the spring, fertilized queens emerge from their shelters and each of them builds a nest of wood treated with special enzymes, consisting of 10-12 hexagonal cells. Eggs are placed in these cells of the uterus. The queen feeds the larvae with a gruel of semi-digested insects. The larvae grow quickly and soon develop into sterile worker wasps. After the workers are born, the queen no longer engages in any household chores, she only lays eggs, and the workers build new cells, take care of the eggs and raise the larvae. The social system of some species of ants and termites is somewhat more complex. Worker ants are divided into several castes, depending on the work they perform. Some, for example, have the task of spraying enemies formic acid, i.e., to conduct a peculiar “ chemical warfare", and on others - to deliver nectar to the warehouse. Termite larvae are miniature copies of adult individuals. They develop into soldiers that have powerful jaws or a stinging apparatus that secretes a sticky substance that can become a trap for enemies. Termite workers and soldiers - wingless and blind individuals.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
In most insect species, with the exception of the breeding season, there is no need for communication. In social insects, on the contrary, communication between members of the colony is vital. Some species have developed a perfect information transmission system. Body language is often used for this. For example, honey bees, with the help of a special dance, very accurately inform their fellow bees in the hive about the road to the place where, according to them, the source of nectar is located. Ants use a different method. Having found a significant source of food, they return to the anthill, leaving behind a persistent odorous trail. Other ants, following this path, also leave their odorous marks, which are a guide for the rest of the colony. Pheromones play a very important role in the life activity of all types of social insects. Hungry larvae secrete a special substance that is a “feed me” signal. The queen secretes her pheromones and thus sends her own signal to the workers, reminding them of their duties. At certain intervals, the workers exchange gland secretions with the queen, and thus a close relationship is maintained between them A community of many insects that has lost a queen is doomed to death: the insects do not know what to do, for example, workers stop working, being left without a queen, they can grow a new one: for this they build special cells and feed the larvae with special food.
Termites
The social structure of termites consists of three types of insects: the queen (queen), soldiers and workers.
Uterus: lives in the center of the colony. It has a large body with hypertrophied ovaries (up to 10 cm long) that constantly produce eggs - many millions of eggs throughout its life. The winged male who fertilized the female dies. The queen lives for about 10 years.
Soldiers: Large and darker than workers, with large heads and extremely strong jaws. They guard and protect the colony from enemies.
Workers: small, soft-bodied insects white. They build a nest and maintain order in it. Unlike other social insects, worker termites come in both sexes.
Ants
Almost all ant species are social insects. They live in anthills.
Uterus: its only task is to take care of procreation and lay eggs.
Workers: wingless sterile males up to 30 mm long. They care for the queen and larvae, build and repair the anthill. If an anthill is attacked by enemies and there is no one to “fight”, then the workers defend the colony.
Soldiers: like workers, wingless and sterile, but somewhat larger, with large heads and powerful jaws. Their task is to protect the anthill from enemies
Bees
Bees live in communities of up to 60,000 insects.
Uterus: the only one in the entire colony. The queen controls the hive and lays eggs. It does not have organs for collecting pollen, so it is fed by workers.
Workers: they collect pollen and nectar from flowers, feed the young, queen, drones and protect the colony. They build honeycombs consisting of regular hexagonal cells, which serve as a storage facility for honey and an incubator for eggs. Working bees communicate information about food-rich places to each other using a special dance, accurately indicating the distance to them and the direction of flight.
Drones: their only purpose is to fertilize the uterus. The drones are fed by worker bees. After mating they die.
Wasps
Some social wasp species live in large colonies. Unlike bees and termites, the nest is used only for one summer. In the fall, all wasps die out. Only fertilized female founders overwinter and build a new nest in the spring. Wasp nests are built from cellulose - pieces of wood mixed with saliva.
Insects living in a single community: ants, wasps, bees and termites have always aroused special interest and surprise among people. This is reflected in numerous myths, legends and traditions. IN ancient greek mythology ants were a symbol of the goddess Demeter. And one of the most ancient images found in Europe was the Queen of the Hive. Social insects play vital role in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Wasps and most ants act as predators, termites, especially in tropical ecosystems, as the most important destroyers of plant debris, and social bees are pollinators of many wild and cultivated plants and manufacturers of medicinal products.
Hierarchical intrafamily ties and complex structures of interaction between community members still attract close attention from scientists. Solve the riddle collective intelligence Humanity has been trying to find animals since ancient times, and judging by the fact that our ancestors used images of insects to image the gods, this suggests that this secret was understood by them and was actively used to control human communities.
What is the essence of this natural phenomenon?! What's going on?
BEES ARE SOCIAL INSECTS. In the world of animals with Nikolai Drozdov. Video (00:04:59)
Nests of social insects: bees, wasps and ants. Video (00:45:14)
