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Do bees have knees and, if so, what's so special about them?

Ever told anyone "you're the bee's knees" and then wondered if what you'd said had any relevance to bees at all?

Luis Villazon

Asked by: Steve McCabe, Skye

Bees, like all insects, have six sections to their legs: the coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, metatarsus and tarsus. Each is connected by a joint and the one most like a knee is between the femur and tibia. Bees have lots of other specialised structures on their legs to carry pollen, but the bee's knee itself is no more remarkable than any of the other leg joints.

So with that in mind, what's the origin of the phrase: "the bee's knees"? Probably simply because "knees" rhymes with "bees".

The phrase seems to have evolved in 1920s America, along with "the cat's pyjamas". Other seemingly arbitrary terms of distinction from that era that have since died out include "the snake's hips", "the kipper's knickers" and "the sardine's whiskers". Of all of these, the only one actually found in nature is the bee's knees, so perhaps that's what's so special.

• If bees became extinct, what effect would this have on mankind?
• Why do bees die when they sting you?

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The Honey Bee (known in Latin as Apis mellifera) is a species that was introduced into Canada from Europe but is incapable of naturalizing in Canada due to the harsh winters throughout most of the country. These bees only exist here as colonies managed by fruit and vegetable farmers or apiculturists (bee farmers) for the pollination services they provide as well as for their yummy honey. Because this species is so easy to manage, is reasonably docile for a stinging insect, and produces a rich bounty of melliferous syrup, it is estimated that Honey Bees are involved in the pollination of around a third of our food crops. Bees have hairs on their limbs (as shown in the photos) that facilitate pollen collection. Some species even have a special cavity in their tibias surrounded by hairs called a pollen basket for transporting their food. Of course, it would be an economic and nutritional catastrophe if we were to lose Honey Bees from our fauna from one day to the next. The exact causes of the recent Honey Bee decline, or Colony Collapse Disorder, is not known, although neonicotinoid pesticides are suspected to be at play. While we would certainly be prudent to be cautious about using the neonics, they are more likely to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, rather than the smoking gun in this case. Honey Bees that are managed commercially for agricultural pollination have been experiencing health problems for decades, in part as a consequence of the hives being reared in industrial conditions and transported from farm to farm. As social animals, Honey Bees get easily stressed and one consequence of that is a weakening of their immune systems, making them more prone to infection by disease and attack by parasites. However, insect pollinators come in many shapes and forms, many MANY shapes and forms. In fact, there are over 20,000 species of bees in the world, 1000 of which are in Canada. This large Super-Family of insects (called Apoidea in Latin) includes the Honey Bee, but also Bumble Bees, Mining Bees, Sweat Bees, Digger Bees etc. To most people, these bees (other than Honey and Bumble ones) go unnoticed... but they are out there. However, there are also other important groups of insect pollinators, including the Hover Flies, the ones that look like bees and wasps in order to fool their predators into leaving them alone at the flowers. There may be another 1000 species of these effective pollinating flies in Canada alongside the bees. This is not to mention the butterflies and beetles that act as important pollinators of Canadian flowering plants as well. With so many species of potential insect pollinators around, you would think it unnecessary to go to the trouble of hiring or raising managed Honey Bees around farms to ensure the pollination of our crops. Unfortunately, the native pollinators are often notably absent from where they are needed most due to a number of practices all too common in large-scale agricultural farms. Conventional farming typically goes hand-in-hand with a large acreage of monoculture crops that facilitate planting, weeding and harvesting but that leave no room for wildlife to live nearby. Add to that the widespread use of pesticides that impact insect pollinators and pests alike, we can see how the use of managed pollinators becomes a must when there is no way for a native one to survive. Different kinds of pollinators feed on different kinds of flowers, relationships that are mostly dictated by the kinds of mouthparts on the insect and the shape and depth of the floral tube or corolla. Generally speaking, bees and butterflies have long probing tongues and favour flowers that have deep bell- or tube-shaped corollas, whereas flies and beetles have short and lapping mouthparts, requiring open or bowl-shaped flowers for them to be able to feed on pollen and nectar within. As a consequence, a committed pollinator gardener will find that it is important to think carefully about what flowers to plant and to ensure enough floral diversity to feed the whole pollinator community. Often the real issue is overlooked, as our pollinator problem is not simply a Honey Bee one. When we are planting our pollinator gardens, we need to be thinking more about the conservation of native pollinators, not the managed ones. Sure the apiculture industry has some challenges to work out, but wildflower habitat is not their principal concern.... it may very well be a top priority for the conservation of native pollinators though. Research has shown that if we reintroduce habitat for pollinators, including flowers but also nesting and overwintering sites, refuge from the weather and predators and other important features of habitat for native insect biodiversity, that they respond favourably to that and their populations increase.

@AdamOliverBrown and @AdaMcVean

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Do Bees Really Have Knees?

We Investigate.  

Before going any further, a few terms must be defined.

Defining Our Terms For the purposes of this discussion, “ bee” shall be used as an umbrella term to refer to the countless variety of yellow-and-black-striped insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera . “Knee” shall refer to the joint between the thigh and lower leg that enables articulation between the femur and the tibia.

Insect Legs: A Primer  

Proponents of the Bees-Have-Knees Camp will point to the presence of a femur, tibia, and an articulating joint between the two as a strong piece of evidence in support of their conviction. But is it a knee?

No Cap, No Knee?  

A key feature missing from the intersection of a bee’s femur and tibia is the patella—known by many as the knee cap. The patella serves as a point of attachment for some of the ligaments and tendons that transfer muscular contraction into movement and make knees fragile and prone to injury.

 The patella is present in all placental mammals (and apparently some frogs) but conspicuously absent in marsupials, most reptiles, and many birds (a notable exception being the ostrich—look at those gams!). This begs the question: is a knee without a cap truly a knee?

An Unsatisfying Conclusion  

Answering this question in any satisfactory way seems to hinge (pun intended) upon how you choose to define the knee. Is it just a convenient label to describe the many components of a complicated joint? Or should we prioritize a joint’s function over the sum of its parts? When Mr. C the Slide Man calls for “hands on your knees, hands on your knees” during the Cha Cha Slide, who is allowed to participate? For the patellar supremacists among us, calling the primitive hinge between a bee’s femur and tibia a knee makes a mockery of one of the human body’s most complex and delicate structures. For those of us with a more flexible semantic framework, a little articulation between a femur and a tibia might be all you knee-d.  Note: We know. T he insect pictured in the header of this blog is a yellowjacket, not a bee.  Don't @  me.

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The trains and stations of the Moscow Metro

2 Comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Cities , Travel , Video

The Moscow Metro is the third most intensive subway system in the world after Tokyo and Seoul subways. The first line was opened on May 15, 1935. Since 1955, the metro has the name of V.I. Lenin.

The system consists of 12 lines with a total length of 305.7 km. Forty four stations are recognized cultural heritage. The largest passenger traffic is in rush hours from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

Cellular communication is available on most of the stations of the Moscow Metro. In March 2012, a free Wi-Fi appeared in the Circle Line train. The Moscow Metro is open to passengers from 5:20 to 01:00. The average interval between trains is 2.5 minutes.

The fare is paid by using contactless tickets and contactless smart cards, the passes to the stations are controlled by automatic turnstiles. Ticket offices and ticket vending machines can be found in station vestibules.

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Tomás · August 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

The Moscow metro stations are the best That I know, cars do not.

Alberto Calvo · September 25, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Great videos! Moscow Metro is just spectacular. I actually visited Moscow myself quite recently and wrote a post about my top 7 stations, please check it out and let me know what you think! :)

http://www.arwtravels.com/blog/moscow-metro-top-7-stations-you-cant-miss

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