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Effect of Brood Pheromone on Survival and Nutrient Intake of African Honey Bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) under Controlled Conditions

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Abstract

The influence of pheromones on insect physiology and behavior has been thoroughly reported for numerous aspects, such as attraction, gland development, aggregation, mate and kin recognition. Brood pheromone (BP) is released by honey bee larvae to indicate their protein requirements to the colony. Although BP is known to modulate pollen and protein consumption, which in turn can affect physiological and morphological parameters, such as hypopharyngeal gland (HPG) development and ovarian activation, few studies have focused on the effect of BP on nutritional balance. In this study, we exposed newly emerged worker bees for 14 d and found that BP exposure increased protein intake during the first few days, with a peak in consumption at day four following exposure. BP exposure decreased survival of caged honey bees, but did not affect either the size of the HPG acini or ovarian activation stage. The uncoupling of the BP releaser effect, facilitated by working under controlled conditions, and the presence of larvae as stimulating cues are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

FJD is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Pretoria. The authors would like to thank Kendall Crous for beekeeping, Susana da Silva das Neves and Zoe van Vuuren for helping with dissections, and Alan Hall and the Laboratory for Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Pretoria for the HPG pictures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Insects Research Group, Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa

    Fabien J. Démares, Abdullahi A. Yusuf, Susan W. Nicolson & Christian W. W. Pirk

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  1. Fabien J. Démares
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  2. Abdullahi A. Yusuf
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  3. Susan W. Nicolson
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  4. Christian W. W. Pirk
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Correspondence to Fabien J. Démares.

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Démares, F.J., Yusuf, A.A., Nicolson, S.W. et al. Effect of Brood Pheromone on Survival and Nutrient Intake of African Honey Bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) under Controlled Conditions. J Chem Ecol 43, 443–450 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0840-1

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