A honey bee's nervous system is not one centralized brain doing all the work — it is a small brain (with paired mushroom bodies specialised for learning, memory and sensory integration) linked to a chain of ganglia running the length of the body along the ventral nerve cord. Each ganglion can drive local reflexes — leg and wing coordination, for example — on its own, without waiting for a round-trip signal to the brain, which is why insects react so fast relative to their tiny neuron counts.
- Brain & mushroom bodies — sits in the head; the mushroom bodies handle associative learning (e.g. linking a flower's scent to a reward) and integrate input from the eyes and antennae.
- Ventral nerve cord (ganglia) — a chain of nerve clusters running along the underside of the body, each one a local reflex centre for the segment it serves.
- Honey stomach (crop) — a distensible storage sac in the abdomen that carries a nectar load home without digesting it, separate from the true digestive stomach.
- Midgut — the true digestive stomach; enzymes and nutrient absorption happen here, protected by a semi-permeable lining.
- Venom gland — near the tip of the abdomen, connected to the stinger, used defensively.
Drag the explode factor slider to slide the head, thorax and abdomen apart and pull each organ out along the body axis for an unobstructed view; toggle X-ray to make the cuticle translucent so organs are visible even at explode = 0.