Bee Eyes

Honey bee eyes give them remarkable vision but are also used for navigation, foraging and communication. Unlike the eye of a human that consists of a single lens, bee eyes are a complex combination of single eyes and compound eyes that have separate purposes. In this post, we will learn about the amazing structure and function of the eyes of bees and how they help them interpret the world.

Beekeepers do not have to know all the in-depth biological aspects of bee life. But, the more you learn about the anatomy of honey bees – the more amazing they become. Each part of a bee is designed to help them do a particular task that is necessary for survival.

Understanding Bee Eyes

So how many eyes do bees have? A honey bee has 5 eyes. That may seem like a lot-but vision is very important to a honey bee.

Workers are female bees that gather the resources needed by the colony. This might involve the bees traveling miles from the hive – by air. Their specialized eyes help ensure success in finding the target and making it back to the right hive.

Large Compound Eyes

An close inspection of a bee will reveal 2 large compound eyes found on the side of the head. These are easy to see – if you can get the bee to sit still.

Compound eyes – as their name implies – consist of thousands of tiny “micro-eyes” called ommatidium – facets.

These tiny lenses are groups of photoreceptors that interpretate the world from different angles. The number of ommatidia in these compound eyes ranges from 5,000 to 8,000.

If you could see through the eyes of a honey bee, the image would look much like a puzzle or mosaic with many pieces.

Nerves connect the ommatidium to the brain where the information is interpreted into an image that the bee understands.

Simple Eyes – Ocelli

The two compound eyes are only part of the picture. Positioned on the top of their head in a triangular pattern are 3 simple eyes called Ocelli – (from the Latin word “ocellus – little eye”).

You may not notice these simple structures unless you look very closely. Their triangular pattern (2 dorsal and 1 central) and resembles 3 little dots. Each of the small eyes has only 1 lens and they work differently than compound eyes.

• aid in navigation
• light receptors
• UV light sensors

Aid in Navigation

Simple eyes do not form pictures in the way we think of normal sight. They are primarily light sensors and help the honey bee navigate using the position of the sun-even on a cloudy day.

This enables the bee to easily view the horizon and horizon line as the day begins and ends. This is important for a worker bee that plans to work from daylight to dusk.

Perception of Daylight and Dark

Foraging honey bees go into the field mostly during the daylight hours. But, some bees of other species are “crepuscular” and prefer to forage at night.

For example, bees that live in the desert may need to forage at night to avoid the heat of day. Those bees will have larger ocelli than honey bees – to help them detect small variations in light especially at dawn and dusk.

Sensitive to UV Light

One remarkable aspect of honey bees is that they can see UV light. Ocelli are very sensitive to ultraviolet light – that is invisible to humans.

This sensitivity helps honey bees recognize patterns and reflections that aid in navigation. Bees see flowers much differently than we do. Using their ocelli to see ultraviolet light, they can recognize patterns, shapes and colors.

Honey Bee Vision

The way in which the five eyes of a honey bee work together allows them to complete complex tasks – and feats of navigation.

They can easily see movement in any direction due to the facets on the curved surface of the compound eyes. This helps them understand their surroundings and respond to any threats.

Polarized Light

The eyes of honey bees enables them to see polarized light. Humans can not detect polarized light without special filters.

However, honey bees can use their compound eyes to detect polarized light -even on cloudy days when no sun is present.

Powerful Eyes of Drone Bees

There is a noticeable difference among the eyesight of the various bees in a hive. Worker bees have about 6900 facets (or lenses) in their compound eyes. This gives them the abilities they need to perform their tasks.

Drones are the male bees of the colony. Their sole purpose (so far as we know) is to mate with new queens.

Because they do no work, one might think their eyesight would not be as good as worker bees. This is not true! Drones have 8600 facets in their eyes – a measurable amount more than the workers.

Why is eyesight so important to drone honey bees? They need excellent sight to spot virgin queens flying in the air.

Honey bee reproduction relies on mating outside the hive – high in the air. These special mating spaces are called drone congregation areas.

On warm afternoon, virgin queens in an area fly to these spaces hoping to mate. Good vision aids the drones in finding the queens.

Do Bee Eyes Have Hair?

Another amazing fact about the eyes of honey bees is the small hair that grows on their eyeballs. The tiny hairs grow out from between the ommatidium.

Even though there is still some mystery surrounding the purpose of this hair, it is believed to be there to help keep the eye lenses clean.

Hairy eyes also helps bees measure the wind speed and direction. This aids them in returning to the hive even in windy conditions that might blow a tiny bee off course.

You will often see them cleaning their eyes and segmented bee antenna before taking flight. This removes any pollen particles that may have stuck to their fuzzy body.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

The simple and compound eyes of the honey bee help it navigate the world. Millions of flowers must be visited to collect all the resources needed by the colony. A remarkable feat for a tiny insect wouldn’t you agree? Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is how the different eyes of the bee work together. What an amazing insect that is designed just perfectly for survival.