Mathematics Applied To Nature: How the bee Tetragonula builds its comb

Stingless bees of the genus Tetragonula construct a brood comb with a spiral or a target pattern architecture in three dimensions.

Figure 1. Combs of two species of the stingless bee Tetragonula showing structures of (a) target patterns (Tetragonula carbonaria), (b) spirals (Tetragonula carbonaria), (c) double spirals (Tetragonula carbonaria) and (d) more disordered terraces (Tetragonula hockingsi). Images courtesy of (a) Elke Haege; (b–d) Tim Heard.

"Bees from the genus Tetragonula specialize in sophisticated feats of architecture built from hexagonal beeswax cells. Each individual cell is both the landing spot for an egg and a building block for structures that can grow up to 20 levels high, Brandon Specktor reports for Live Science. Stingless bees’ hives can come in several shapes, including stacks of circles in a bulls-eye, a spiral, a double spiral, and a group of disorderly terraces"

Via: SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
Read More: Journal of The Royal Society Interface