Abstract
When placed in a small observation arena with workers, most young virgin honeybee queens released fecal (hindgut) material during agonistic interactions with workers and with each other. On release of this material, workers moved to the sides of the arena and groomed themselves. Bioassays of virgin queen fecal material demonstrated that it contains pheromone that repels workers and stimulates grooming behavior. Pheromone was present only in the feces of virgin queens that were more than 24 hr old and less than 2 weeks old. Feces of 2- to 4-day-old workers and virgin queens more than 2 weeks old did not elicit an avoidance response by workers. Moreover, the feces of young virgin queens had a strong fragrance, while that of older queens had a rancid odor and that of young workers had no detectable odor.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Boch, R., Shearer, D.A., andYoung, J.C. 1975. Honey bee pheromones: field tests of natural and artificial queen substance.J. Chem. Ecol. 1:133–148.
Butler, C.G. 1967. Insect pheromones.Biol. Rev. 42:42–87.
Butler, C.G., andPaton, P.N. 1962. Inhibition of queen rearing by queen honey-bees (Apismellifera L.) of different ages.Proc. R. Entomol. Soc. London 37(A): 114–116.
Butler, C.G., Callow, R.K., Koster, C.G., andSimpson, J. 1973. Perception of the queen by workers in the honeybee colony.J. Apicult. Res. 12:159–166.
Crewe, R.M. 1982. Compositional variability: The key to the social signals produced by honeybee mandibular glands, pp. 318–322,in M.D. Breed, C.D. Michener, and H.E. Evans (eds.). The Biology of Social Insects. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.
Gary, N.B. 1961. Queen honeybee attractiveness as related to mandibular gland secretion.Science 133:1479–1480.
Gary, N.B. 1974. Pheromones that affect the behavior and physiology of honey bees, pp. 200–221,in M.C. Birch (ed.). Pheromones. American Elsevier, New York.
Laidlaw, H.H. 1979. Contemporary Queen Rearing. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton, Illinois.
Michener, C.D. 1974. The Social Behavior of the Bees, A Comparative Study. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Page, R.E., andErickson, E.H. 1986. Kin recognition and virgin queen acceptance by worker honey bees (Apismellifera L.).Anim. Behav. 34:1061–1069.
Renner, M., andBaumann, M. 1964. Über Komplex von subepidermalen Drüsenzellen (Druftdrüsen?) der Bienenkänigin.Naturwissenschaften 51:68–69.
Simpson, J. 1979. The existence and physical properties of pheromones by which worker honeybees recognize queens.J. Apicult. Res. 18:233–249.
Velthuis, H.H.W. 1970. Queen substances from the abdomen of the honeybee queen.Z. Vergl. Physiol. 70:210–222.
Vierling, G., andRenner, M. 1977. Die Bedeutung des Sekretes der Tergittaschendrüsen für die Attraktivität der Bienenkönigin gegenüber jungen Arbeiterinnen.Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 2:185–200.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Post, D.C., Page, R.E. & Erickson, E.H. Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) queen feces: Source of a pheromone that repels worker bees. J Chem Ecol 13, 583–591 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01880101
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01880101