Editing Bee (section)

===Life cycle===
{{further|Honey bee life cycle}}

The life cycle of a bee, be it a solitary or social species, involves the laying of an egg, the development through several moults of a legless [[larva]], a [[pupa]]tion stage during which the insect undergoes [[Holometabolism|complete metamorphosis]], followed by the emergence of a winged adult. The number of eggs laid by a female during her lifetime can vary from eight or less in some solitary bees, to more than a million in highly social species.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bu_1gmY13FIC&dq=eggs+laid+during+her+lifetime+eight+or+fewer+solitary+million+queens&pg=PA8-IA12 The Bees of the World, Volum 1]</ref> Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate. Like the other members of Hymenoptera bees are [[Haplodiploidy|haplodiploid]]; the sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilized. After mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilized eggs producing female offspring and unfertilized eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no [[diapause]] stage.<ref name=Roubik1992>{{cite book |author=Roubik, David W. |title=Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljlaYMeI6noC |year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42909-2 |page=15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617144437/https://books.google.com/books?id=ljlaYMeI6noC |archive-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The bumblebee lifecycle|url=http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/lifecycle/|publisher=Bumblebee Conservation Trust|access-date=1 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629043439/http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/lifecycle/|archive-date=29 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Learning About Honey Bees |url=http://www.scmidstatebeekeepers.org/honeybeelifecycle.htm |publisher=The South Carolina Mid-State Beekeepers Association |access-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701180422/http://www.scmidstatebeekeepers.org/honeybeelifecycle.htm |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Solitary Bees |url=http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=901 |publisher=National Bee Unit |access-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701202809/http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=901 |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref>

The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.<ref name=Shuckard>{{cite book |author=Shuckard, William Edward |title=British bees: an introduction to the study of the natural history and economy of the bees indigenous to the British Isles |url=https://archive.org/details/britishbeesanin01shucgoog |year=1866 |publisher=L. Reeve & Co. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/britishbeesanin01shucgoog/page/n38 18]–23}}</ref>

In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and [[Spiracle (arthropods)|spiracle]]s in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into a winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the [[exuvia]]e and breaks out of the cell.<ref name=Shuckard/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="125px">
File:Apoidea.jpg|Nest of [[Bombus pascuorum|common carder]] [[bumblebee]], wax canopy removed to show winged [[worker (bee)|workers]] and [[pupae]] in irregularly placed wax cells
File:Carpenter Bee Galleries.jpeg|[[Carpenter bee]] nests in a cedar wood beam (sawn open)
File:Bienen mit Brut 2.jpg|Honeybees on [[brood comb]] with eggs and [[larvae]] in cells
</gallery>