Struggling Bees: Part 3

On the same day I found a carpenter bee that was, literally, "under the weather," I also discovered a honey bee (Apis mellifera, Western or European honey bee, subspecies unknown) lying dead on the back porch. I believe it to be a worker that died from the cold. However, I can't be sure of this, as I don't know how long it had been lying there. Its glossa was protruding from its proboscis, as if it had been drinking nectar but had been unable to retract the organ before dying. Could it perhaps have eaten something that killed it? I don't know. Its legs were folded up. I couldn't tell if its abdomen still held a stinger, but as losing the stinger results in death, I'd guess there'd be visible damage to the abdomen. Therefore I can only conclude that the bee either died early that morning, when it was even colder, or ingested some harmful substance. I believe the former is more likely. In its search for nectar, the worker probably ventured too far from the hive and couldn't get back to its warm home in time.

Before looking at the photos, it might be helpful to study some simple anatomical diagrams:

These and other diagrams can be found at http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/insects-arachnids/bee1.htm. More complex diagrams can be found here: http://www.extension.org/pages/26467/illustrations-from-anatomy-of-the-honey-bee-by-re-snodgrass. On this site you can download (for free) the entire book by Robert E. Snodgrass.

Now, to the photos:

At this point I turned the bee over to get a better view of its underside.

Now you can see more clearly the parts making up the bee's proboscis: moving inward, there are the maxillae, the labial palps, and the glossa, ending in the labellum. Consult http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/26/chemse.bjr040/F3.expansion.html#ref-103.

Also check out:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3080
http://www.slideshare.net/antamuk/european-honey-bee
http://www.biology-resources.com/bee-01.html