Biology · Environmental Studies

Biology of Insects and Pollination

861 Questions

Insect biology and pollination focus on ecological relationships, crop science, and practical applications like apiculture. These topics regularly appear in general science sections of competitive exams. Review core concepts to build accuracy for test day.

Apiculture and honeyTypes of pollinationInsect binomial nomenclatureCrop damaging pestsFriend of farmers organism

Biology of Insects and Pollination Questions

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Which among the following is secondary product of honey bee?

  1. Bee wax

  2. Propolis

  3. Honey

  4. Pollen
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The best known primary products of beekeeping are honey and wax, but pollen, propolis, royal jelly, venom, queens, bees and their larvae are also marketable primary bee products. Most of these products can be consumed as they are produced by the bees. There are additional uses where bee products are an ingredient of another product. 

So the correct answer should be 'option B and D".

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

If the food source is in the opposite direction of sun and distance from the hive is 85 meters, then scout worker bee will convey this information by

  1. Round dance

  2. Straight dance

  3. Tail wagging dance - upward

  4. Tail wagging dance - downward
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

A scout worker honey bee performs a waggle dance to convey the information to the rest of the hive about the food source. The direction the bee moves in relation to the hive. This indicates the direction of food with respect to direction of sun. If it moves vertically and upward, the source is directly towards the Sun. If it moves vertically and downward, the source of food is in opposite direction of sun. The duration of the tail wagging dance signifies the distance.

Thus, the correct answer is 'Tail wagging dance - downward.'

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

In bees, pollen basket is present in

  1. Prothoracic legs

  2. Mesothoracic legs

  3. Metathoracic legs

  4. Both meso and metathoracic legs
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation
The pollen basket is an arrangement of hairs found on the tibia of the metathoracic legs of some bees. The bees collect pollen and, having moistened it with saliva using their tongues, they transfer it to their hind legs and pack it into the pollen basket. By packing pollen in this manner they compact it so that it can be easily carried back to the hive or nest.
So, the correct answer is 'Metathoracic legs'.
Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Which of the following statement about bee colony is wrong?

  1. Domesticated species are A.indica and A.mellifera.

  2. Sex differentiation is due to haplodiploidy.

  3. They are female dominant societies.

  4. Fertilized eggs develop into sterile females only.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Honey bee queen control the sex of their offspring as eggs pass through the ovary into the oviduct, a queen can determine whether a particular egg is fertilized or not. Unfertilized eggs become drone honey bees, while fertilized eggs develop into female workers and queens. Female workers do not mate, but they can lay infertile eggs, which in turn become male honey bees.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

What is the waxy substance produced by honey bee to repair combs called as?

  1. Propolis

  2. Honey dew

  3. Nectar

  4. Sporopollenin
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Propolis or bee glue is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used for sealing unwanted open spaces in the hive. Propolis is used for small gaps while larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax. Propolis is sticky at and above room temperature, 20$^o$C (68$^o$F). At lower temperatures, it becomes hard and very brittle.

So, the correct answer is 'Propolis'

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

In which part of the body, honey bee keep the nectar for sometime? 

  1. Crop

  2. Mouth

  3. Gizzard

  4. Pollen basket
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Honey is made using the nectar of flowering plants and is saved inside the beehive for eating during times of scarcity. Nectar is extracted from flowers using a bee's long, tube-shaped tongue and stored in its extra stomach, or crop. While in the crop, the nectar mixes with enzymes that transform its chemical composition and pH, making it more suitable for long-term storage.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Honey bee after discovering the new source of nector / honey can convey the direction

  1. Cannot convey the direction.

  2. By round or tail wagging dance.

  3. By round dance only.

  4. By tail wagging dance only.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The honey bees exhibit 2 types of dance to communicate the location of food - the round dance and the tail-wagging or waggle dance.

The round dance is used for food sources 25-100 meters away from the hive or closer. After distributing some of her new-found nectar to waiting bees the scout will begin running in a small circle, switching direction every so often. The round dance does not give directional information. Bees elicited into foraging after a round dance fly out of the hive in all directions searching for the food source they know must be there.
As the food source becomes more distant the round dance is replaced by the waggle dance. The waggle dance includes information about the direction and energy required to fly to the goal.  Hence option B is correct.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Worker bees are .............

  1. Fertile males

  2. Fertile females

  3. Sterile females

  4. Sterile males
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

A worker bee is any female bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee. They are smaller, their abdomens are shorter, and on their hind legs they possess pollen baskets, which are used to carry pollen back from the field. The life span of worker bee is six weeks during the colony's active season. However, worker bees live longer (four to eight months) during the less active winter months.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

The stimuli through which a dancing scout bee communicates the location of a food source to other worker bees in a hive are 

  1. Visual

  2. Acoustic

  3. Contact

  4. Contact and visual
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Honey bees like insects communicate through chemicals and odors. Besides these they also use specific behaviors such as dances to convey information about the availability and type of resources in the environment, and the location of the same. The dancing scout bee's body generally points in the direction of the food source and the sound produced during the dance indicates the profitability and availability of food. Hence, the scout bee uses acoustic stimuli to communicate the location and source of food to other worker bees.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Sting apparatus in honey bee is a modified form of ...............

  1. Ovipositor

  2. Wax glands

  3. Alkaline glands

  4. Podical valves
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The stinging apparatus of the honey bee is a modified ovipositor (egg laying tube) that all bees and wasps have. In some bees and wasps, the ovipositor is nothing more than a simple egg-laying tube designed to get eggs into hard to reach nooks, while in others it is stiffened to allow holes to be made in wood or penetrate the bodies of other insects in order to lay eggs. As the stinger is a modified egg laying tube, only the female bees posses a sting. 

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

 Which is wrong about Bee colony

  1. Sex differentiation is based on haplodiploidy

  2. Female dominated society

  3. Domesticated species are A. indica and A. mellifera

  4. Fertilized eggs develop into sterile females only.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In a bee colony, fertilized eggs develop into females (queens or workers), not just sterile females. The queen is a fertile female.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Which is true about bees

  1. Apis indica is the largest species is India

  2. Bees wax is wasteful product

  3. Honey has glucose and arabinose as main constituents

  4. Communication in bees was first studied by Frisch.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Karl von Frisch was a Nobel Prize-winning ethologist who famously decoded the 'waggle dance' used by honey bees to communicate the location of food sources.

Multiple choice zoology insects and human welfare bee keeping apiculture apiculture, sericulture and fisheries

Honey Bee performs round dance to indicate food source. The distance between hive and food source is

  1. 50 m

  2. 100 m

  3. 1000 m

  4. 2000 m.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation
HONEY BEE CHARACTERISTICS
$\rightarrow$ $15$mm long
$\rightarrow$ Body is segmented into stinges, legs, antena, three segments of thorax, six segments of abdomen
$\rightarrow$ Thorax of the bee consists of wings, legs and mucles that control their movement.
$\rightarrow$ In each colony, one egg laying queen is present who produces $2000$ eggs a day.
$\rightarrow$ Adult workers tend the larvae inside the cells.
$\rightarrow$ Drones(male bees) mate with the queen, after which they die.
$\rightarrow$ They follow haplodiploidy.
$\rightarrow$ Lifespan is about $4$ months for ever wintering drones. However the average lifespan is about $5-6$ weaks or $1-2$ months.
Honey bees communicate through dance language:-
$1)$ Waggle dance when food is $150$ to $200$ metres away
$2)$ Round dance when food source is $25$ to $50$ metres away.
Correct option A.