Academic Writing Task 1 #22 Process and Cycle – life of bee

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The diagram below shows the life cycle of the honey bee.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

 

The chart illustrates the stages in the life of honey bees. It takes approximately five weeks (34 to 36 days to be exact) to complete. All in all, this life cycle is comprised of six stages from eggs to fully mature bees.

The first stage is when the female bee lays up to a couple of oval eggs once every 72 hours. These eggs hatch between nine and ten days later, and immature bees, called nymphs, emerge which lack the typical bee stripes.

Over the next 3 weeks nymphs experience three moulting stages, that is, they shed their skins to allow further growth to occur: The first moulting happening 5 days after the eggs hatch, a week after which the second one takes place. Nine days later nymphs moult for a third time and young adult honey bees emerge, identified by their horizontally striped backs. These take four more days to mature into larger adult bees whose backs are marked with bolder and darker stripes, and the cycle starts over again.

(171 words)