Anatomy of a Honey Bee

The body of the honey bee is segmented: stinger, legs, antenna, three segments of thorax and six visible segments of abdomen.  

The head consists of eyes, antennas and feeding structures.  The eyes include the 2 compound eyes and the simple eye.  The compound eyes helps bees understand color, light and directional information from the sun's UV rays, while the simple eye helps in determining the amount of light present.  The antenna's function is to smell and detect odors and to measure flight speed.  The mandible is the bee's jaw, which is used in eating pollen, cutting and shaping wax, feeding larva and the queen, cleaning the hive, grooming and fighting.  The tongue allows the bee to drink nectar, honey and water.  It also functions as the medium for food exchange between the bees.

The thorax of the honey bee consists of the wings, legs and the muscles that control their movement.  The forewing, which is typically larger than the hind wing, is used for flight and as a cooling mechanism, while the latter is used to fan away heat and cool the hive.  The legs are also important to pollen transfer and propolis, a resinous mixture collected and used as a sealant in hives.

The abdomen's six segments include female reproductive organs in the queen, male reproductive organs in the drone and the stinger in both workers and queen.  The stinger is a defense mechanism which stays in the victim when used because it has barbs, and causes the bee to die.