Evolution of the Honey Bee
How
many species of insects are there?
There
are nearly 1 million described species of insects. It is believed that there could actually be
5 to 30 million individual species of insects.
Evolution
of the insect
The
earliest definitive insects can be found in the Devonian period – around 400
million years ago and these were already well developed. Insects are in the Arthropod phyla but the
exact relationship between the various groups – Crustacea,
Spiders and Insects is not clear.
All insects appear
to have evolved from on the land and then where applicable returned to the
water. The insect respiratory tract from
their closed tracheal system. Insects and their nymphs which readapt to water,
have gill systems (tracheal gills) which originate from the terrestrial tracheal
system. Crustacea
have gill systems which are not tracheal.
One
issue of early insect evolution is the evolution of the wing. The earliest insects have wings already
formed. In fact some extact
insects actually had 3 pairs of wings (Palaeodictyoptera). The wings may have
evolved from tracheal gills. In the
Mayfly the tracheal gills are very similar in structure to wings. If wings evolved in insects on the land,
their early use may have been for gliding from the tops of plants back onto the
ground. Once wings were formed, the insects who were able to fold their wings
would have an advantage in begin able to exploit smaller niches. Today the neopterous
(wing folding insects) are the dominant form of insect.While
many orders of insects have a very long heritage – Mayflies (Ephemeroptera),
Cockroaches (Blattodea), Dragon flies (Odonata),
and Grasshoppers (Orthoptera) are
evident in the Carboniferous period.
Other modern orders have evolved
with the devopment of the flower plants – Butterflies
(Lepidoptera), flies
(Diptera)
and beetles (Coleoptera).
Major
orders of insects
Coleoptera 38
%
Lepidoptera 16 %
Hymenoptera 13 % - the order to which Apis
belongs.
Diptera 12 %
Others 21 %
Species of Apis
There
are 7 species of Apis
Dwarf
Honey bees Apis andreniformis
Apis florea
Giant
Honey bees Apis dorsata
Western
Honey bee Apis mellifera
Apis nigrocincta
Apis cerana
Apis koschevnikovi – Malaysia,
Indonesia, Borneo