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Science 12 November 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4573, pp. 695 - 697
DOI: 10.1126/science.218.4573.695
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Articles

Iron-Containing Cells in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

DEBORAH A. KUTERBACH 1, BENJAMIN WALCOTT 1, RICHARD J. REEDER 2, and RICHARD B. FRANKEL 3

1 Department of Anatomical Sciences, Health Sciences Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, Long Island 11794
2 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook
3 Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139

Honey bees are sensitive to earth strength magnetic fields and are reported to contain magnetite (Fe3O4) in their abdomens. We report bands of cells around each abdominal segment that contain numerous electron-opaque, iron-containing granules. The iron is principally in the form of hydrous iron oxides.

Submitted on April 1, 1982
Revised on June 15, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Intracellular Iron Minerals in a Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Bacterium.
S. Glasauer, S. Langley, and T. J. Beveridge (2002)
Science 295, 117-119
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Magnetoreception in Honeybees.
C.-Y. Hsu and C.-W. Li (1994)
Science 265, 95-97
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)