>There's a couple of photos here showing a bee collecting honeydew on such
a leaf and scale insects:
Beautiful photos, Peter!
>To solve this problem they use enzymes (probably in bacteria in their gut)
to split the sugars in the sap and take out a water molecule and then tack
this sugar onto the back of another, forming long chain sugars
(oligosaccharides).
A more recent study found that bacteria are not involved in the above
process:
" In conclusion, this study has demonstrated, first, that the aphid, and
not its associated microbiota, mediates the enzymatic modification of
ingested sugars that is central to the osmotic response of these insects to
the high osmotic pressure of plant phloem sap"
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.850.2568&rep=rep1&type=pdf
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
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