Summary
Experimental evidence for flower-marking in honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica), using pairs of workers from the same colony foraging on an artificial patch of flowers, is reported. Workers marked artificial flowers with scent and strongly rejected all flowers they had recently visited. The same rejection behavior, in a lower although significant proportion, was observed when bees visited flowers just abandoned by the other individual of the pair. The repellent nature of this scent-mark was demonstrated with the use of an air extractor connected to the patch of artificial flowers. When the apparatus was turned on, the rejection behavior disappeared and bees accepted both flowers just abandoned by themselves and flowers just abandoned by the other bee. Differences in the response level of bees to their own marks or to the partner's marks suggest that the repellent scent-mark applied by a bee during foraging would basically be a self-use signal, although it certainly has value in communicating with other workers.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Boch, R. and D. A. Shearer, 1967. 2-Heptanone, 10-Hydroxy-transdec-2-enoic acid in the mandibular glands of worker honeybees of different ages.Z. vergl. Physiol. 54:1–11.
Butler, C. G., D. J. C. Fletcher and D. Waller, 1969. Nest entrance marking with pheromones by the honeybeeApis mellifera L. and by a waspVespula vulgaris L.Anim. Behav. 17:142–147.
Cameron, S., 1981. Chemical signals in bumble bee foraging.Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 9:257–260.
Crewe, R. M. and H. Hastings, 1976. Production of pheromones by workers ofApis mellifera adansonii.J. Apic. Res. 15:149–154.
Ferguson, A. W. and J. B. Free, 1979. Production of a forage-marking pheromone by the honeybee.J. Apic. Res. 18:128–135.
Free, J. B., 1968. The conditions under which foraging honeybees expose their Nasonov glands.J. Apic. Res. 7:139–145.
Free, J. B. and J. Simpson, 1968. The alerting pheromones of the honeybee.Z. vergl. Physiol. 61:361–365.
Free, J. B. and I. Williams, 1972. The role of the Nasonov gland pheromone in crop communication by honeybees.Behaviour 41:314–318.
Free, J. B., I. Williams, J. A. Pickett, A. W. Ferguson and A. P. Martin, 1982. Attractiveness of (Z)-11-eicosen-1-ol to foraging honeybees.J. Apic. Res. 21:151–156.
Frisch, K. v. (1967).The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
Giurfa, M. and J. A. Núñez, 1992. Honeybees mark with scent and reject recently visited flowers.Oecologia 89:113–117.
Jessen, K. and U. Maschwitz, 1986. Orientation and recruitment behavior in the ponerine antPachychondyla tesserinoda (Emery): laying of individual-specific trails during tandem running.Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 19:151–155.
Karlson, P. and M. Lüscher, 1959. “Pheromones”: a new term for a class of biologically active substances.Nature, Lond. 183:55–56.
Kerr, W. E., A. Ferreira and N. Simoes de Mattos, 1963. Communication among stingless bees: additional data (Hymenoptera: Apidae).J. of the New York Entomol. Soc. 71:80–90.
Kerr, W. E., M. S. Blum and H. M. Fales, 1981. Communication of food sources between workers ofTrigona (Trigona) spinipes.Rev. Brasil. Biol. 41:619–623.
Kevan, P. G. and A. J. Lack, 1985. Pollination in a criptically dioecious plantDecaspermum parviflorum (Lam.) A. J. Scott (Myrtaceae) by pollen-collecting bees in Sulawesi, Indonesia.Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 25:319–330.
Lindauer, M. and W. E. Kerr, 1958. Die gegenseitige Verständigung bei den stachelosen Bienen.Z. vergl. Physiol. 41-405–434.
Maschwitz, U. W., 1964. Gefahrenalarmstoffe und Gefahrenalarmierung bei sozialen Hymenopteren.Z. vergl. Physiol. 47:596–655.
Maschwitz, U. W., S. Lenz and A. Buschinger, 1986. Individual specific trails in the antLeptothorax affinis (Formicidae: Myrmicinae).Experientia 42:1173–1174.
Núñez, J. A., 1967. Sammelbienen markieren versiegte Futterquellen durch Duft.Naturwissenschaften 54:322–323.
Núñez, J. A., 1970. The relationship between sugar flow and foraging and recruiting behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).Anim. Behav. 18:527–538.
Núñez, J. A., 1971. A simulator for learning studies in the beeApis mellifera L.Acta Cient. Venez. 22:101–106.
Ribbands, C. R., 1955. Scent perception of the honey bee.Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 143:367–379.
Schmitt, U. and A. Bertsch, 1990. Do foraging bumblebees scent-mark food sources and does it matter?Oecologia 82:137–144.
Schmitt, U., G. Lübke and W. Francke, 1991. Tarsal secretion marks food sources in bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae).Chemoecology 2:35–40.
Schwarz, R., 1955. Über die Riechschärfe der Honigbiene.Z. vergl. Physiol. 37:180–210.
Shearer, D. A. and R. Boch, 1965. 2-Heptanone in the mandibular gland secretion of the honey-bee.Nature, Lond. 206:530.
Simpson, J., 1961. The salivary glands ofApis mellifera and their significance in caste determination.Atti V Congresso U.I.E.I.S., X:173–188, Pavia.
Sokal, J. F. and R. R. Rohlf, 1981.Biometry. New York: Freeman.
Vallet, A., P. Cassier and Y. Lensky, 1991. Ontogeny of the fine structure of the mandibular glands of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) workers and the pheromonal activity of 2-heptanone.J. Insect Physiol. 37:789–804.
Varjú, D. and J. A. Núñez, 1991. What do foraging honeybees optimize?J. Comp. Physiol. A 169:729–736.
Villa, J. D. and M. R. Weiss, 1990. Observations on the use of visual and olfactory cues byTrigona spp foragers.Apidologie 21:541–545.
Zar, J. H., 1984.Biostatistical Analysis (2nd Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Giurfa, M. The repellent scent-mark of the honeybeeApis mellifera tigustica and its role as communication cue during foraging. Ins. Soc 40, 59–67 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01338832
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01338832