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Scopa (biology)

 
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Scopa (biology)
 
 
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The term scopa is used to refer to any of a number of different modifications on the body of a non-parasitic bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
 that form a pollen
Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
-carrying apparatus. In most bees, the scopa is simply a particularly dense mass of elongated, often branched, hairs (or setae) on the hind leg.






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Scopa 5948


The term scopa is used to refer to any of a number of different modifications on the body of a non-parasitic bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
 that form a pollen
Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
-carrying apparatus. In most bees, the scopa is simply a particularly dense mass of elongated, often branched, hairs (or setae) on the hind leg. When present on the hind legs, the modified hairs are, at a minimum, on the tibia
Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus , ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus , patella....
, but some bees also have modified hairs on the femur
Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus , ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus , patella....
 and/or trochanter
Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus , ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus , patella....
. A few bees have, in addition to the leg hairs, many modified hairs on the ventral surface of the abdomen which are also used in pollen transport; there is one family of bees, Megachilidae
Megachilidae

The Megachilidae are a cosmopolitan family of solitary bees whose pollen-carrying structure is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen ....
, in which the modified leg hairs are absent, and the scopa is limited to the abdominal hairs (see photo). In the familiar honey bee
Honey bee

Honey bees are a subset of bees, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of wiktionary:perennial, Colony nests out of beeswax....
s and bumblebees, the scopa is replaced by a structure known as the corbicula
Pollen basket

The pollen basket or corbicula is part of the Arthropod leg#Hexapoda on the hind legs of the four related lineages of apidae bees that used to comprise the family Apidae: the honey bees, bombus, stingless bees, and euglossini....
.

There are other various types of modified hairs on bees that are used to remove pollen, floral oils, or other chemicals from plants, and these can be on the face, mouthparts, or the front or middle legs, but these are not classified as a scopa; the term is explicitly restricted to hairs used to transport pollen. There are some bees which transport pollen internally in the crop, and these lack a scopa, as do cleptoparasitic bees, which do not gather their own pollen.

Scopae 5281b