What are Bee’s wings made out of? (BioE80 Spr2015)

Applause IconMay 24, 2015 • 10:45 PM UTC
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Jtytus

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Hello All!
As an explorer my job is to discover and learn about the world around me! Today I am on a quest to find out what bee’s wings are made out of. As you can imagine this was a tricky question to answer, but I was determined to use my trusty foldscope to find the answer. As I ventured into the outdoors I was in search of the long sought after bee. Unfortunately the one I found was dead, but that made it easier to carefully pluck its wing for further examination.
After putting it in the slide and examining it with a fold scope I noticed a few things. The wind was transparent, thin and fragile. It also contained reddish-brown vein-like structures running throughout it. Lastly it contained tiny hair-like follicles all throughout the wing.
Bee’s wings have to be lightweight in order to move quickly and their specific shape seems to help them move smoothly. The vein-like structures provide a flow of cells that help regulate a bee’s body and provide communication from the wing to the brain. I assume the tiny hair like follicles are used to detect wind patters as well as to have a sense of touch. Bee’s wings are very delicate but have many interesting applications. Well it looks like bee’s wings are the bee’s knees! But do bees have knees? … Well that’s a question for another adventure with the foldescope!
Happy Exploring!
Jori Tytus

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