Question

In which part of the body, pollen basket is found in the honey bee?
A. Prothoracic leg
B. Mesothoracic leg
C. Metathoracic leg
D. At union of thorax and abdomen

Answer 1

Hint: The pollen basket of the bees refers to the hairs found on the tibia of hind legs. These are structural arrangements that are used by bees to collect pollen. The bees moistened the pollen with saliva. Using their tongue the bees transfer moistened pollen to their hind legs and pack them into pollen baskets.

Complete answer: Bees are one of the most important pollinating agents for flowering plants. Bees get attracted by the sweet fragrant juices of the flowers secreted by pollens. Bees feed on the sweet nectar and pollen gets sticky over their head and front legs. Bees stick the pollen from their body through their tongue making them wet through their saliva. They transfer the collected pollen to their hind legs with the help of their tongue. The hind legs are also called the metathoracic legs of the bees. The metathoracic legs are those that are present at the back of the thorax.

These legs have an arrangement of the hair on the tibia. The tibia which is a jointed appendage and is used for walking has a pollen comb. The pollen comb is just a collection of a dense network of hair. This is called the pollen basket. Pollens are collected and stored in these pollen baskets so that they can be carried back to the beehives. The pollen is kept moistened by mixing with nectar or honey. This also results in a change in the color of the pollen.
So, option C is the correct answer.
Note: Most of the worker bees carry and collect the pollen in the scope region of their hind legs. It is a dense mass of elongated and branched hairs or setae. Only the honeybees and bumblebees possess pollen baskets. The full pollen basket weighs around 0.01 gm. A single pollen basket may contain around 1,000,000 pollen grains.