Bee size varies with comb cell size.  Erik Erickson, Tucson, published a
paper on the different sizes used by different makers of foundation.
Also, old comb tends to be smaller as the bees re-line and re-use the
cells - until such time as the bees tear down and rebuild.
 
Years ago, we used a front entrance pollen trap that proved to us just
how variable body size was.  We ended up using two traps, fitting the
traps to the size of the bees.  Curiously, last summer, bees that fit
through a plastic pollen grid in Montana couldn't get through the same
grids 4 days later after moving them to Maryland.
 
The drop in elevation affected our instrumentation, but we sure didn't
expect the change in location to affect the ability of bees to squirm
through a hole.  Do bees swell (like a person's feet after a long plane
flight??)
 
 
As per altimeter, the late Roy Thurber used to go to a wrecking yard for
airplanes.  He got really good altimeters for little cost - seems you
can't re-install an altimeter in a plane, if the original plane crashed.
Bit on the large size, but he mounted his in his truck.  Roy reasoned
that he might worry about the accuracy in a plane, but doubted that he
was going to drive into a mountain in his truck.
 
Jerry Bromenshenk
[log in to unmask]
 
http://grizzly.umt.edu/biology/bees
 
P.S.  Lots of people ask for bee pictures.  We have some on our web page
under the section describing our research team - just click on the
picture of the bee.  We will add more shortly, especially pictures of
individual bees on a variety of flowers.  Check the site next week.