Evaluating the Role of Drone-Produced Chemical Signals in Mediating Social Interactions in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Pheromones play a critical role in shaping societies of social insects, including honey bees, Apis mellifera. While diverse functions have been ascribed to queen- and worker-produced compounds, few studies have explored the identity and function of male-produced (drone) compounds. However, several lines of evidence suggest that drones engage in a variety of social interactions inside and outside of the colony. Here we elucidate the chemical composition of extracts of the drone mandibular gland, and test the hypothesis that compounds produced in these glands, or a synthetic blend consisting of the six main compounds, mediate drone social interactions in and out of the colony. Drone mandibular glands primarily produce a blend of saturated, unsaturated and methyl branched fatty acids ranging in chain length from nonanoic to docosanoic acids, and both gland extracts and synthetic blends of these chemicals serve to attract drones outside of the hive, but do not attract workers inside the hive. These studies shed light on the role drones and drone-produced chemicals have on mediating social interactions with other drones and highlight their potential importance in communicating with other castes.

The nesting preference of an invasive ant is associated with the cues produced by actinobacteria in soil

“…Social insects have highly developed chemical communication systems [11][12][13][14][15] and are sensitive to numerous cues from conspecifics, heterospecifics and the environment that alter their behavior [16][17][18]. Identifying these cues can facilitate the understanding of the complex behaviors of social insects and the manipulation of their abundance.…”

Putative Drone Copulation Factors Regulating Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Queen Reproduction and Health: A Review

“…Mating also has a strong impact on queen pheromone production [47,48,49,50,51,52,53]. The queen possesses several glands (i.e., mandibular, labial, Dufour’s, tergal, and tarsal) that produce pheromones that are essential for maintaining colony social organization and are substantially different from those of workers or males [69,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83].…”

Marked interspecific differences in the neuroanatomy of the male olfactory system of honey bees (genus Apis)

“…One cannot exclude, however, that secondary components of the queen pheromonal blend may have played a role during speciation in these species, together with other reproductive isolation processes. Additionally, more and more data in A. mellifera point to the use by drones of drone‐produced pheromones in the formation of the congregations (Bastin, Cholé, Lafon, & Sandoz, ; Brandstaetter, Bastin, & Sandoz, ; Gerig, ; Lensky, Cassier, Notkin, Delorme‐Joulie, & Levinsohn, ; Villar, Wolfson, Hefetz, & Grozinger, ). These cues may also be used by virgin queens to find the congregations (Bastin, Savarit, Lafon, & Sandoz, ).…”