Current knowledge about behaviors of honey bee queens with highlighting of the importance future studies

Abstract

Background There is one queen in each honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colony under normal conditions. This queen performs egg laying and pheromonal control in the colony. All genetic characteristics of bee workers and drones depend on the queen. This reflects the importance of bee queen in the colony. In this review, behaviors of honey bee queens are presented and further studies are suggested to fill in gaps in knowledge. Main body The major studies about behaviors of honey bee queens either inside or outside the colony were reviewed. Some behavioral aspects especially egg laying pattern, sperm storage and utilization, conflict between queens, and the role of the queens in swarming and absconding have gained relatively few attention. Also, some other points such as the ability of a queen to transmit parasites after mating to her offspring and effects of pesticides on queen rearing and characteristics of emerged queens were highlighted. Conclusion This study highlighted the points that require further detailed studies. This review article may stimulate others toward performing specific future studies on bee queens.

Increased Mass-Rearing of Queens in High Royal-Jelly-Producing Honey Bee Colonies (Apis mellifera ligustica) Generates Smaller Queens with Comparable Fecundity

“…As a pivotal colony member of honey bees (Apis mellifera), the queen is specialized in egg laying and pheromone releasing to maintain colony stability and function [1,2]. A poor-quality queen is generally regarded as one of the key factors contributing to colony loss, which remains an urgent global issue in modern apiculture [3,4].…”

Acute oral toxicity, apoptosis, and immune response in nurse bees (Apis mellifera) induced by flupyradifurone

“…In the wild, honey bee foragers may carry pesticide-contaminated nectar or pollen back to the colony. These pesticide-laden foods can harm not only the foragers themselves, but also the larvae through the nurse feeding behavior ( Medrzycki et al, 2003 ; Forfert and Moritz, 2017 ; Abou-Shaara et al, 2021 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Wueppenhorst et al, 2022 ). Young bees (hive bees) between 3 and 13 days old were termed as nurse bees, whose tasks were mainly processing food and provisioning bee larvae.…”