| In this study, we systematically studied the characteristic of bee cell covers and pores using Apis cerana cerana and Apis mellifera ligustica as experimental materials. Our results laid foundation for studying the formation mechanism and function of bee cell cover and pore in the further.We measured the air permeability of the worker, drone cover, honey cover and cell wall both of the A. c. cerana and A. m. ligustica using YG461 E Automatic Digital Air Permeability meter. For the first time we found the air permeability between worker cover and drone cover of A. c. cerana has significant difference, and the air permeability of the drone cover is weaker than that of the worker cover. There is no significant difference in the air permeability of the honey cover.We observed the air permeability microstructure of the worker cover, drone cover,honey cover and cell wall using Hitachi JSM-6701 F SEM and also observed the forming process of the pore in the A. c. cerana drone cover. The result showed that the structure of the A. c. cerana drone cover is closer than that of the A. c. cerana worker cover and A. m.ligustica worker cover and drone cover. Two or three days after capping, the pore of A. c.cerana drone cover begins to form in the inner part, but the outer part is still capped by beeswax. The outer part has formed a conical pore structure 7 days after capping and its diameter is 0.4-0.5mm.We investigated the effect of aritifically capping the A. c. cerana drone cover pore,aritifically making a pore in the A. m. ligustica drone cover and aritifically exchanging the A. c. cerana and A. m. ligustica drone pupae cover or uncapped larva on the development of drone. The result showed that both in A. c. cerana and A. m. ligustica the emergence rate of bees in natural conditions is higher than that in the aritifically capping or aritifically making pore groups. The birth weight and the right wing length of natural emergence bees are significantly higher than that of the aritifically capping drones. The drone pupae can emerge through aritifically exchanging the A.. cerana and A. m. ligustica drone pupae cover. But the drone larva can not develop into pupae through atitifically exchanging the uncapped larva. |
