Flight muscle
The indirect muscles that power a bee's wings and double as the colony's heating system.
Bees
Definition
They deform the thorax rather than pulling on the wings directly, which allows a wingbeat of around 230 per second. Decoupled from the wings, the same muscles shiver to generate heat — which is how a winter cluster stays warm, how the brood nest is held at 35 °C, and how Asian honey bees cook giant hornets.
See also
Other bees terms
Sources
Sources
- The Biology of the Honey Bee — Harvard University Press (1987) · Textbook
- The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild — Princeton University Press (2019) · Monograph
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