Comb wax mediates the acquisition of nest-mate recognition cues in honey bees

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, acquire nest-mate recognition cues from wax, the predominant material used in nest construction. Exposure of a newly emerged worker bee to wax-comb substrate significantly reduced the acceptability of that worker to sister bees. Cues acquired from the comb provided colony...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1988-11, Vol.85 (22), p.8766-8769
Main Authors: Breed, M.D, Williams, K.R, Fewell, J.H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animal ethology
Apidae
APIS MELLIFERA
BEESWAX
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Sciences: Population Biology
CERA DE ABEJA
CIRE D'ABEILLE
COLMENA
COMPORTAMIENTO SOCIAL
COMPORTEMENT SOCIAL
Conditioning
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
HIVES
Honey bee colonies
Honey bees
Insect behavior
Insect colonies
Insect genetics
Insect nests
Learning. Memory
OBRERAS (ABEJAS)
ODEUR
Odors
OLOR
OUVRIERE
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
RUCHE
SMELL
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Social insects
Waxes
WORKER BEES
Worker insects
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Description
Summary:Honey bees, Apis mellifera, acquire nest-mate recognition cues from wax, the predominant material used in nest construction. Exposure of a newly emerged worker bee to wax-comb substrate significantly reduced the acceptability of that worker to sister bees. Cues acquired from the comb provided colony-specific information about the identity of worker bees; moreover, the effect of comb exposure has been previously shown to override individually produced cues. Food odors (anise oil), when dissolved in paraffin wax, affected worker-recognition characteristics but food odors did not affect these characteristics when fed to bees in sugar candy. Paraffin wax alone did not affect the recognition cues of bees, showing that the wax can be a neutral medium for the transmission of cues. The wax comb in the colony and the hydrocarbon outer layer of the bee cuticle may be a continuous medium for any hydrocarbon-soluble substances used by honey bees in nestmate recognition; if so, a mechanism by which environmental cues are acquired by honey bees is provided.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.85.22.8766