Bee antenna

This is a section of antenna from a Nomada bee, Nomada flava. The doughnut shaped indentations in the lower half are sensilla placodea also known as pore plates, they have an olfactory function, they detect airborne chemicals giving the bee a sense of smell.

The surface of each sensillum placodeum is perforated with many tiny pores, chemicals pass through these pores and are transported by carrier proteins to sensory neurones of which there are many for each sensillum placodeum.

The image is a stack of 83 shots, taken with a Nikon N plan 10/0.30 objective on bellows. The actual length of the bit of antenna shown is approximately 0.7mm.