Question

Sting apparatus in a honey bee is a modified form of:
A. Ovipositor
B. Wax glands
C. Alkaline glands
D. Podical valves

Answer 1

Hint: The stinger apparatus is a small but effective appendage that allows queen and worker honey bees to perform two important activities of protection against enemies and laying eggs to reproduce.

Complete answer:
 The last abdominal segment of the honeybee holds a cavity called the sting chamber. It is inside this cavity that the sting apparatus is present. The sting apparatus consists of the protractor and retractor muscles, the bulb, the stinger, and the venom sac.

> Option (A) - ovipositor
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ with a maximum of three pairs of appendages found in insects for laying of eggs and their attachment to some surfaces. In wasps and honey bees, it can function as a piercing organ as well. A stinger is a sharp organ found in various insects used to inject venom.

> Option (B) - wax glands
Wax glands produce Beeswax (Cera alba) in honey bees of the genus Apis. It is a natural wax formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees. They discard it in or at the hive.

> Option (C) - Alkaline glands
The alkaline gland or basic gland, presently known as Dufour gland, in honey bees, is associated with the venom, sting sheath, and Koschevnikovi glands in the sting apparatus. Despite several studies, the precise role of the Dufour or alkaline gland in honey- bees is still unclear

> Option (D) - Podical valves
There is no such part present in honey bees. So, it can’t give rise to the stinging apparatus.

Hence, The correct answer is option (A).

Note: After a honey bee stings a person it leaves behind the stinger and also part of its abdomen and digestive tract. This kills the honey bee. So the honey bees are the only bees that die after stinging.