Sneaky queens in Melipona bees selectively detect and infiltrate queenless colonies

Insect societies are characterized by advanced cooperation, but at the same time the complexity of their colonies renders them susceptible to reproductive parasitism. Recently, a genetic study on the Brazilian stingless bee Melipona scutellaris showed that unrelated queens frequently invade and take...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal behaviour 2013-09, Vol.86 (3), p.603-609
Main Authors: Van Oystaeyen, Annette, Araujo Alves, Denise, Caliari Oliveira, Ricardo, Lima do Nascimento, Daniela, Santos do Nascimento, Fábio, Billen, Johan, Wenseleers, Tom
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal reproduction
Bees
Entomology
guarding
insect colonies
Melipona
Melipona scutellaris
parasitism
Parasitology
radio frequency identification
reproductive parasitism
RFID
social parasitism
stingless bee
stingless bees
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Summary:Insect societies are characterized by advanced cooperation, but at the same time the complexity of their colonies renders them susceptible to reproductive parasitism. Recently, a genetic study on the Brazilian stingless bee Melipona scutellaris showed that unrelated queens frequently invade and take over colonies in which the mother queen had died. In the present study, we investigated this phenomenon using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. We confirmed that alien queen take-overs are common within this species, and demonstrated that mated queens actively seek out colonies without a queen to reproduce in. Furthermore, we found that queens only penetrate their target colonies in the evening, when guarding efficiency is significantly reduced. We hypothesize that this strategy reduces the chance of the queens being attacked by entrance guards, thus maximizing their chance of successful infiltration. •We demonstrate the occurrence of intraspecific queen parasitism using RFID tags.•Solitary queens selectively seek out queenless colonies to reproduce in.•Guarding of queenright and queenless colonies is shown to be equally efficient.•Solitary nest-seeking queens exclusively enter colonies around sunset.•We demonstrate that guarding efficiency is at its lowest around sunset.
ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.07.001