# Bees with no abdomen



## Greg Lowe (Feb 3, 2012)

That sounds like some that got pinched and don' t yet know that they are dead.


----------



## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

What would have pinched their abdomen completely off without leaving a trace? -js


----------



## Greg Lowe (Feb 3, 2012)

A hive cover, supers being removed and replaced, or being in the wrong spot when a frame is pulled for inspection are all possibilities that I had in mind.


----------



## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

Greg Lowe said:


> A hive cover, supers being removed and replaced, or being in the wrong spot when a frame is pulled for inspection are all possibilities that I had in mind.


maybe, but it had been a couple days since I'd been in the hive. -james


----------



## Shazam (Mar 1, 2010)

Birds too as a possibility


----------



## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Bigger hornets can bite a bee in half.


----------



## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

If it was a bird or hornet, it got the bee at just the right place. I examined the bee closely and there is no evidence there ever was an abdomen - no extraneous tissue or anything. The body simply ends at the base of the thorax. -james


----------



## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's not possible. I don't mean to diminish the observation, just cast doubt on the interpretation. It would be analogous to your body ending at your ribcage. You'd be missing some necessary components.


----------



## bison (Apr 27, 2011)

I did see one once and couldn't beleive my eyes. Wasn't pinched off by me as I hadn't opened the hive. Very odd, glad I'm not the only one!


----------



## Blaster (Mar 30, 2012)

Dragonflies are known to catch bees in flight, eat just the abdomin and drop the rest.


----------



## Tia (Nov 19, 2003)

Yellow jackets, too, will remove the bees' abdomens and bring them back to their babies as food.


----------



## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

> I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's not possible. I don't mean to diminish the observation, just cast doubt on the interpretation. It would be analogous to your body ending at your ribcage. You'd be missing some necessary components.


Not that I disagree but there is Rose Siggins.....


----------



## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Ah, yes, but she's not missing the vital parts!

I knew somebody was going to post a picture like that.opcorn:

A bee's abdomen contains all sorts of stuff including the stomach, and what is called the heart, though it's not a heart quite in the same manner of ours. Mrs. Siggins still has her heart, stomach, liver, and the rest of it as far as I'm aware, just no legs and some bones are missing too.


----------



## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

Check for hornets. They will cut bees in half too. Just killed a hornet yesterday. Big sucker.


----------



## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

> A bee's abdomen contains all sorts of stuff including the stomach, and what is called the heart, though it's not a heart quite in the same manner of ours


Like I said, I'm not disagreeing, I just couldn't help think of her when you mentioned a person ending at the ribcage. In her case she is missing a pelvis and so her abdomen has pulled up under her ribs which makes her torso look like it has been cut in half when it really has all the organs.

A bee without an abdomen is what we in the EMS world would call one of the presumptive signs of death, or "A patient separated into two or more pieces, none of which contain all organs compatible with life function."


----------



## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

I know this is morbid, but that is an absolutely hilarious definition.


----------



## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

Aerindel said:


> ...<snip> we in the EMS world ....<snip>


Are you an EMT? I am a Nationally Registered EMT licensed in AL and VA. -james


----------

