Look Mum, no hands

Most animals have two jaws – a fixed one called a maxilla and a movable one (lower jaw) that is technically called a mandible. Bees have two movable mandibles that instead of moving up and down swing in and out. Bee species have differently shaped mandibles depending on what the mandibles are used for.

Mandibles are used for nest building – loosening soil (burrowing bees), cutting leaves (leaf-cutter bees) and boring holes in wood (carpenter bees). Those bees that buzz pollinate use their mandibles to grasp a plant so they can release the pollen by vibrating the flower.

Whilst female Blue-banded Bees (Amegilla sp.) find refuge in their burrow overnight, the males are spend the night sleeping with their mandibles locked onto plant stem (see picture left).

Sometimes its good to have mandibles to hang on whilst you use all your legs to adjust your ‘do’.