When the young bee emerges from its cell, the wing development has been completed; it only has to unfold, expand them both by mean of hydrostatic pressure of their haemolymph, and then dry them before they are functional.

The wing sizes vary between the queen, worker and drone, the latter of which are much larger, extending beyond their abdomen tip. It is thought the reason for the increase of size is due to the drone being up to two and a half times larger than the worker; also, the wings could help to support the queen during the mating process. The worker bee’s wing tips will lose some of their shape due to wear and tear as she reaches the end of her life, after foraging for three weeks.