Intra- and interspecific brood recognition in pure and mixed-species honeybee colonies, Apis cerana and A. mellifera
- Tan, K, Yang, M-X, Radloff, Sarah E, Yu, Y, Pirk, Christian W W, Hepburn, H Randall
- Authors: Tan, K , Yang, M-X , Radloff, Sarah E , Yu, Y , Pirk, Christian W W , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Apis mellifera Apis cerana
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6837 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010962 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido/2009003
- Description: We studied the effects of mixed honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana on the intraspecific and interspecific recognition of female brood stages in the honeybees A. cerana and A. mellifera by transferring brood combs between queenright colonies. In the intraspecific tests, significantly more larvae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera, whilst significantly fewer eggs and pupae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera. In the interspecific tests, A. cerana colonies removed significantly more larvae and pupae of A. mellifera than the same brood stages of A. cerana were removed by A. mellifera. We show there are highly significant differences in both intraspecific and interspecific brood recognition between A. cerana and A. mellifera and that brood recognition operates with decreasing intensity with increasing developmental age within species. This suggests that worker policing in egg removal is a first line of defense against heterospecific social parasites.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Tan, K , Yang, M-X , Radloff, Sarah E , Yu, Y , Pirk, Christian W W , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Apis mellifera Apis cerana
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6837 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010962 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido/2009003
- Description: We studied the effects of mixed honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana on the intraspecific and interspecific recognition of female brood stages in the honeybees A. cerana and A. mellifera by transferring brood combs between queenright colonies. In the intraspecific tests, significantly more larvae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera, whilst significantly fewer eggs and pupae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera. In the interspecific tests, A. cerana colonies removed significantly more larvae and pupae of A. mellifera than the same brood stages of A. cerana were removed by A. mellifera. We show there are highly significant differences in both intraspecific and interspecific brood recognition between A. cerana and A. mellifera and that brood recognition operates with decreasing intensity with increasing developmental age within species. This suggests that worker policing in egg removal is a first line of defense against heterospecific social parasites.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
A scientific note on the natural merger of two honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera capensis)
- Neumann, Peter, Pirk, Christian W W, Hepburn, H Randall, Radloff, Sarah E
- Authors: Neumann, Peter , Pirk, Christian W W , Hepburn, H Randall , Radloff, Sarah E
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6912 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011875
- Description: Natural mergers of honeybee colonies are commonplace in tropical Africa (Hepburn and Radloff, 1998), but their consequences on organizational structure are unknown. Here we determine the spatial distribution and division of labor of workers (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.) following a merger of two colonies. Two unrelated colonies (each ~3000 bees) were placed in threeframe observation hives. When workers emerged from the sealed brood of each colony, they were individually labeled and reintroduced into their respective mother hives. They are referred to as cohorts Aand B, each comprising 300 workers of the same age. The behaviors and positions of all labeled workers and queens were recorded twice daily for 24 days (Kolmes, 1989; Pirk et al., 2000). On day 14 colony B was dequeened, left its nest and merged with colony A on day 15.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Neumann, Peter , Pirk, Christian W W , Hepburn, H Randall , Radloff, Sarah E
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6912 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011875
- Description: Natural mergers of honeybee colonies are commonplace in tropical Africa (Hepburn and Radloff, 1998), but their consequences on organizational structure are unknown. Here we determine the spatial distribution and division of labor of workers (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.) following a merger of two colonies. Two unrelated colonies (each ~3000 bees) were placed in threeframe observation hives. When workers emerged from the sealed brood of each colony, they were individually labeled and reintroduced into their respective mother hives. They are referred to as cohorts Aand B, each comprising 300 workers of the same age. The behaviors and positions of all labeled workers and queens were recorded twice daily for 24 days (Kolmes, 1989; Pirk et al., 2000). On day 14 colony B was dequeened, left its nest and merged with colony A on day 15.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
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