Honeybee Metamorphosis

Honeybee metamorphosis is the process whereby a honeybee grows through several developmental stages, from an egg into an adult bee.  A queen lays an egg into a brood cell, the egg develops into a larva, which then becomes a pupa, and finally matures into an adult bee.

^{Click on any picture for more detail.}

	Caste Development time as an egg Worker 3 days Drone 3 days Queen 3 days Egg An egg is the first stage of honeybee metamorphosis; the queen lays eggs into brood cells; the eggs then develop into larvae.  In these illustrations, you can see eggs in their individual cells.  They appear as small, thin, semi-transparent or light-colored rods in the center of the cells (see the cells in the center of the picture).
	Caste Development time as a larva Worker 6 days Drone 6.3 days Queen 4.6 days Larva The larva is an immature honeybee, in a white, legless, grub-like form, which develops within a brood cell; the larval form is the second stage of bee metamorphosis, following the egg stage and preceding the pupal stage.  In this illustration, you can see the shiny, pearl-white larvae curled up snugly in their brood cells.
	Caste Development time as a pupa Worker 12 days Drone 14.5 days Queen 7.5 days Pupa A pupa is a honeybee in an intermediate, quiescent form; during the pupal stage, the immature bee is enclosed in a capped brood cell until it emerges as an adult.  In these illustrations, you can see the white heads of pupae protruding from their uncapped brood cells, in the center of the top picture and on either side of the queen's abdomen in the bottom picture.  A pupa actually looks like an adult honeybee, except that it is all white, like the larva.  The yellow, capped cells around this pupa contain other pupae that have already been capped.  If you look closely at the top picture, you can see the pupa's eyes on the left and right sides of the cell.  A pupa's eyes are lighter, unlike the black eyes of the adult honeybees.
	Caste Total development time Worker 21 days Drone 23.8 days Queen 15.1 days Adult When the honeybee pupa has matured and is ready to come out of its brood cell, it will chew through its cell cap and emerge as a somewhat wet, uncertain adult.  After a few minutes of drying out, it will quickly assume its role in the colony.  An adult honeybee is one that has emerged from its brood cell, such as the drone emerging from its cell, shown in the picture at left. Workers, drones, and a queen.

Honeybees and their Life

^{Copyright © 2002-2008 All Rights Reserved.}