Vincent Dietemann1, Jochen Pflugfelder2, Stephan Härtel3, Peter Neumann4, and Robin M. Crewe1. (1) Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, (2) Institut für Bienenkunde, J. W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a. Main, Karl-von-Frisch Weg 2, Oberursel, Germany, (3) Institut für Zoologie, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 4, Halle (Saale), Germany, (4) Swiss Bee Research Centre, Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Nutztiere und Milchwirtschaft (ALP), Schwarzenburgstrasse 161, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland
In the honeybee, worker reproduction is regulated by pheromones produced by the queen and the brood. Workers usually reproduce when the queen is removed and young brood is absent. However, Cape honeybee workers, A. m. capensis, are facultative intraspecific social parasites and can take over reproduction from the host queen. In A. m. capensis, worker reproduction is associated with the production of queen-like pheromones. Investigating the manner in which parasitic workers compete with host queens pheromonally can help us to understand how reproductive division of labour is regulated. Using pheromonal contest experiments, we show that host A. m. scutellata queens do not prevent the production of queen-like mandibular gland compounds by the parasites. Freshly emerged A. m. capensis queens, with lower amounts of 9-ODA (the major compound of queen mandibular pheromone) than A. m. scutellata queens, inhibited the production of queen-like mandibular secretions in the parasitic workers. We conclude that the quantity of 9-ODA is not an important parameter in the regulation of pheromone production and reproduction of individual workers. We also demonstrated that A. m. capensis and A. m. scutellata queens produced similar mandibular gland compound ratios despite their different regulatory abilities on pheromone development in the parasites. Therefore, neither the quantity of 9-ODA nor the 9-ODA/10-HDA ratio produced (10-HDA is the major compound produced by mandibular glands of workers) explained the different abilities of queens of different subspecies to prevent the parasitic workers from producing queen-like mandibular secretions and therefore to engage in reproduction.
See more of Symposium 25: Pheromonal mediation of honey bee social behavior, a symposium in honor of Mark Winston
See more of Invited Symposia Presentations
See more of The IUSSI 2006 Congress