Yesterday’s edition of Krulwich Wonders (which is a science-y NPR blog) addressed the question of why honeybees build hexagonal patterns in the wax combs of their hives. For example, why don’t honeybees have triangles or circles?
The answer, proved by Thomas Hales in 1999, is that the hexagonal structure is the most efficient and compact of any of the geometric patterns available to the bees. Here’s a link to the proof, dubbed “The Honeycomb Conjecture”. (Which is quite catchy, don’t you think?)
So that is all very cool and I love Krulwich and I love Krulwich Wonders, but my biggest problem is that throughout the article, they refer to honeybees as just…”bees.” And here’s the thing: there is a wide variety of nest structures in the bee world! Not all bees use hexagons.
For example, you have the bee family Megachilidae (leaf-cutter bees).
These solitary bees use leaves (or sometimes petals) to build nests comprising multiple oval-shaped cells, each of which contains an egg provisioned with pollen.
Bumblebees make honey pots in their hives, so their honey containers are spherical.
And maybe you remember my post about communal aggregations of Halictid bees, which nest in tunnels underground?
Or my post about Costa Rica’s social stingless bees?
Or Australia’s stingless bees (Trigona carbonaria), which form elegant comb spirals?
And don’t even get me started on wasps! I once knew a biologist who could identify the wasp to the species from 12 meters away, just by looking at the shape of the nest.
What does this mean? There is a mathematical proof to show that honeybee hives are the most efficient use of space, but these other bees don’t exhibit that kind of efficiency. Does that mean that honeybees are more derived? Is it related to higher sociality or different caste structures? Why don’t all bees use hexagons?
So, dear Mr. Krulwich, I love your blog, but when you say “bees”, please be specific!
Yours truly, standingoutinmyfield