Pollen basket

The pollen basket is an arrangement of hairs found on the tibia of the hind legs of some bees. The bees collect pollen and, having moistened it with saliva using their tongues, they transfer it to their hind legs and pack it into the pollen basket. By packing pollen in this manner they compact it so that it can be easily carried back to the hive or nest.

A photograph of a bumblebee with full pollen baskets about to enter a Foxglove flower.

Other names for (or types of) Pollen basket include:

• Corbicula

Related terms

• Apiary
• Apoidea
• Bee bread
• Cerumen
• Honey bee
• Pollination
• Tibia

Related groups of terms

• Invertebrate body structure

Related pages on this web site

• Bees
• Bees and Beekeeping: From simple bee-ginnings
• Insect body structure

See other words beginning with P