Heat production by balling in the Japanese honeybee,Apis cerana japonica as a defensive behavior against the hornet,Vespa simillima xanthoptera (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract

As an effective counterattack strategy against predacious hornets, especially Vespa simillima xanthoptera, workers of Apis ceranajaponica showed a distinct balling reaction, usually involving 180-300 bees. This produced heat for as long as 20 min, giving rise to temperatures inside the ball higher than 46 ~ which is lethal to the hornet but not to the bees.Summary, The plant amino acid canavanine and its hydrolytic product canaline were successfully separated and identified by Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (RP-HPLC). This procedure was used to demonstrate the arginasemediated cleavage of canavanine to yield canaline and urea, and the subsequent formation of a Schifl's base complex between canaline and pyridoxal phosphate. Both aforementioned reactions were demonstrated by RP-HPLC.

High frequency sounds produced by Cyprian honeybeesApis mellifera cypriawhen confronting their predator, the Oriental hornetVespa orientalis

“…Honeybees face several predators during their cycle. Hornets (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) are particularly known to induce serious damages to apiaries by killing many individual honeybees or even by destroying entire colonies and occupying the beehive, using its resources (honey, pollen, brood and adult honeybees) to feed their brood (Morse, 1978;Ono et al, 1987Ono et al, , 1995Abrol, 1994;Ken et al, 2005). The recent invasion of the Asiatic hornet Vespa Corresponding author: A. Papachristoforou, alpapa@agro.auth.gr * Manuscript editor: Stan Schneider velutina Lepeletier in France and its rapid dispersal (Villemant et al, 2006) may represent a threat to bee colonies.…”

Aggressive and Docile Colony Defence Patterns in Apis mellifera. A Retreater–Releaser Concept

“…To utilize the high-energy protein and sugar resources in a honeybee nest, a predator has to approach or even enter the nest. The colony should adaptively respond to predators, by repelling (Kastberger et al 2007), heat-balling (Ono et al 1987(Ono et al , 1995Ken et al 2005) or eventually stinging it. Thus, scent-marked by alarm pheromones, a predator is easily targeted by newly recruited flying guards.…”

It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Functional Materials in Insects

“…Collective materials Defense swarming Japanese honeybees [574] Material-like swarm Honeybees [573] Magnetic orientation Termites [631] Tree nesting Weaver ants [653] Water active properties Designed wettability Desert beetle [161] Hydrophobic surface Planthopper, [155] mosquitos, [157] green bottle fly [160] Thin flexible membranes Locomotion Locomotive method Mayflies [654] Wing design Bumblebees, [102][103][104][105] dragonflies [94,106,107,112] Mechanosensation Subgenual organs Ground wetas [248,249] Tympanum Cicadas [235] Sound production Tymbal sound production Tiger moths, [269] cicadas [254,266] Thermoregulation Thermosensing Dark-pigmented butterflies [393,655] Water active properties Hydrophobic surface Mosquitos [178] Water-active behavior Termites [177,656] Chemical/other Chemical sensing and defense…”

“…No stinging occurs during this process. [574,575] Army ants (notably Eciton burchelli) are particularly known for their collective behavior outside the nest: they lack permanent nests altogether, instead spending their entire lives in temporary bivouacs composed of 200 000 to 600 000 workers that move their sites daily. The workers use their claws to link their legs and bodies together, forming layered clusters that can measure up to 80 cm across ( Figure 25A).…”