Parasitic honeybees get royal treatment

Since the human-assisted movement of the Cape honeybee Apis mellifera capensis out of its native territory, its workers have invaded colonies of the African honeybee A. m. scutellata. When this happens, their ovaries develop and they begin to reproduce, which results in the death of the scutellata q...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2000-04, Vol.404 (6779), p.723-723
Main Authors: Beekman, M, Calis, J.N.M, Boot, W.J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABEILLE DOMESTIQUE
ABEJA MELIFERA
Animals
APIS MELLIFERA CAPENSIS
Apis mellifera carnica
Apis mellifera scutellata
Bees - growth & development
Bees - parasitology
Bees - physiology
Female
HONEYBEES
REPRODUCCION
REPRODUCTION
Species Specificity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Since the human-assisted movement of the Cape honeybee Apis mellifera capensis out of its native territory, its workers have invaded colonies of the African honeybee A. m. scutellata. When this happens, their ovaries develop and they begin to reproduce, which results in the death of the scutellata queen, and eventually in either the death of the colony or the production of a capensis (worker-produced) queen. We have found that capensis larvae alter the behaviour of non-capensis workers and receive royal treatment, resulting in adult females with queenlike characteristics (pseudoqueens).
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35008148