Defensive repertoire of the stingless bee Melipona flavolineata Friese (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Nunes, Túlio M.; Zuben, Lucas Garcia Von; Costa, Luciano; Venturieri, G. C.

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v61i4.541-546

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Melipona bees make obstacles that block the entrance tube to prevent robbers from entering the inner parts of the nest. While Melipona seminigra makes small balls of mud, which workers use to block the entrance [89], Melipona flavolineata make bee-sized balls of batumen (a mix of mainly wax, resin and earth) to block the entrance tube during Lestrimelitta attacks (figure 3) [90]. In species with small entrance holes, guards in both ants and bees can block the entrance with their heads [15,91].…”

Section: (C) Architectural Features To Prevent Invasionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To mobilize a coordinated response, hosts often use alarm pheromones to alert nest-mates to the presence of a parasite (e.g. [90,113]). Coordinated, cooperative fighting strategies are especially beneficial if invading social parasites are stronger than their hosts, as found in Asian honeybees where hundreds of bees form a ball around raiding giant hornets and increase the temperature inside the ball to levels that are lethal for the hornet [114].…”

Section: Avoidance Of Parasite Establishment (A) Coordinated Defencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Insect societies fight back: the evolution of defensive traits against social parasites

Grüter

Jongepier²,

Foitzik

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Insect societies face many social parasites that exploit their altruistic behaviours or their resources. Due to the fitness costs these social parasites incur, hosts have evolved various behavioural, chemical, architectural and morphological defence traits. Similar to bacteria infecting multicellular hosts, social parasites have to successfully go through several steps to exploit their hosts. Here, we review how social insects try to interrupt this sequence of events. They can avoid parasite contact by choosing to nest in parasite-free locales or evade attacks by adapting their colony structure. Once social parasites attack, hosts attempt to detect them, which can be facilitated by adjustments in colony odour. If social parasites enter the nest, hosts can either aggressively defend their colony or take their young and flee. Nest structures are often shaped to prevent social parasite invasion or to safeguard host resources. Finally, if social parasites successfully establish themselves in host nests, hosts can rebel by killing the parasite brood or by reproducing in the parasites' presence. Hosts of social parasites can therefore develop multiple traits, leading to the evolution of complex defence portfolios of co-dependent traits. Social parasites can respond to these multi-level defences with counter-adaptations, potentially leading to geographical mosaics of coevolution.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours'.

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Section: (C) Architectural Features To Prevent Invasionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Avoidance Of Parasite Establishment (A) Coordinated Defencementioning

confidence: 99%

Insect societies fight back: the evolution of defensive traits against social parasites

Grüter

Jongepier²,

Foitzik

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Bees standing in the entrance tube were confronted with an alarm pheromone. In keeping with other studies [ 19 , 21 , 44 ], it can be assumed that the alarm pheromone at the entrance tube is a threat, which elicits alarming behavior. In A. ferruginea this was indicated by the fast retreat of most bees into the nest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Workers fly out of the nest, land on an intruding object, and vibrate their flight muscles during biting. Other studies report that bees produce intense buzzing sounds in the presence of alarm pheromones [ 21 , 43 , 44 ]. This buzzing, however, has not been studied any further.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guarding Vibrations—Axestotrigona ferruginea Produces Vibrations When Encountering Non-Nestmates

Krausa

Hager

Kirchner

2021

Insects

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Flower visiting stingless bees store collected pollen and nectar for times of scarcity. This stored food is of high value for the colony and should be protected against con- and heterospecifics that might rob them. There should be high selective pressure on the evolution of mechanisms to discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates and to defend the nest, i.e., resources against intruders. Multimodal communication systems, i.e., a communication system that includes more than one sensory modality and provide redundant information, should be more reliable than unimodal systems. Besides olfactory signals, vibrational signals could be used to alert nestmates. This study tests the hypothesis that the vibrational communication mode plays a role in nest defense and nestmate recognition of Axestotrigona ferruginea. Substrate vibrations induced by bees were measured at different positions of the nest. The experiments show that guarding vibrations produced in the entrance differ in their temporal structure from foraging vibrations produced inside the nest. We show that guarding vibrations are produced during non-nestmate encounters rather than nestmate encounters. This further supports the idea that guarding vibrations are a component of nest defense and alarm communication. We discuss to whom the vibrations are addressed, and what their message and meaning are.

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“…Providas de um ferrão vestigial e não-funcional, essas abelhas apresentam outras estratégias de defesa contra seus inimigos (Wittmann, 1985). Dentre elas estão as entradas camufladas, a deposição de ácido fórmico que provoca queimaduras, ou mesmo os comportamentos de mordiscar, enrolar ou depositar resinas nos pelos do predador (Halcroft et al, 2010;Nunes et al, 2014;Shackleton et al, 2015).…”

Section: Tetragonisca Angustula Como Modelo De Estudounclassified

Efeito do fungo entomopatogênico Beauveria bassiana no reconhecimento de companheiras de ninho da abelha nativa >i<Tetragonisca angustula>/i< (Apidae: Meliponini)

Almeida¹

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Aos meus pais, Orlivan Vieira (in memorian) e Rita de Cássia, por todo amor e apoio durante todos esses anos. Obrigado pelo suor que por mim derramaram, pela fibra e coragem que nunca lhes faltou. Ao Prof. Dr. José Maurício Simões Bento, pela confiança e orientação. Obrigado por todos os ensinamentos e oportunidades que me apresentou ao longo desta caminhada. À Dra. Denise de Araujo Alves, por toda a ajuda.

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Defensive repertoire of the stingless bee Melipona flavolineata Friese (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

Insect societies fight back: the evolution of defensive traits against social parasites

Insect societies fight back: the evolution of defensive traits against social parasites

Guarding Vibrations—Axestotrigona ferruginea Produces Vibrations When Encountering Non-Nestmates

Efeito do fungo entomopatogênico Beauveria bassiana no reconhecimento de companheiras de ninho da abelha nativa >i<Tetragonisca angustula>/i< (Apidae: Meliponini)

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