The illustration demonstrates the life cycle of the honey bee, highlighting the developmental stages from eggs to maturity and showing the duration for each phase.
Overall, this natural linear process involves six main stages, starting with egg production, followed by newborns and ending with the emergence of mature bees.
The first three stages involve the development of eggs into larvas. Initially, female bees lay one or two eggs every three days. Subsequently, the eggs hatch after about ten days and the larvas emerge to begin their development.
The remaining stages involve the gradual development of nymphs into mature bees. Five days after hatching, the nymphs go through their first moulting, followed by a second moulting that occurs seven days later. After that, the nymphs spend nine more days to reach their young adulthood. It then takes an additional four days for young adults to reach their full maturity, at which point they are capable of reproduction. The cycle then repeats itself.