Mise en Évidence d'UN Cycle Saisonnier De La Teneur en Acides Céto-9 Et Hydroxy-9 Décène-2 Oïque Des Têtes De Reines Vierges d'ABEILLE

Abstract

(Apis mellifera ligustica S.) During a period extending from March 1971 to March 1972, a queenrearing was achieved each month by means of a simple grafting or larvae. All the young larvae were issued from the same colony of Italian bees (A. m. tigustica S.). The rearing took place in two to four rearing colonies used in sucession. Two days before the queen eclosion, the queen cells were taken out and placed into an incubator, together with some forty bees nearly born, and about ten hive-bees which were fed with candy and pollen, the latter being stored before use at a temperature of -25 °C.On the 23 rd day of their cage-life, the virgin queens vers killed and weighed, the head being weighed separately. Then, the amount of 9-oxodec-2-enoic acid on the one hand and of 9-hydroxydec-2-enoic acid on the other hand was determined through gas chromatography. During the experiment, which covered 13 rearing series, 199 virgin queens were tested. The results were submitted to a statistical analysis.The quantitative analysis revealed the existence of an annual cycle in the two investigated acids and a cycle in the weight of queens. The cycle of the 9-oxodec-2-enoic acid is the clearer and the more stable of the two. It is not dependent on the rearing colony. A first maximum in the production appears in June and a second, of lesser importance, in December. The lowest quantities are obtained in August and September, as well as in March. The cycle of the 9-hydroxydec-2-enoic acid is partially similar to that of the 9-oxodec-2-enoic acid but is delayed as compared to it. Concerning the weight of queens, a maximum was observed in May, one month before that of the 9-oxodec-2-enoic acid. The weights decrease regularly until November and there is no increase before spring.A parallelism was etablished between the annual cycle of the 9-oxodec-2-enoic acid and that of the 10-hydroxydec-2-enoic acid produced by the worker bees which was detected previously (PAIN and ROGER, 1970).The relations between the secretion cycles of the pheromonal substances and different environmental factors (photoperiod, temperature, food resources) are discussed. The part played by the worker bees under this respect is also discussed, the worker bees being studied under variable physiological conditions according to which moment of the year they were selected to act as companions for the queens. Descripteurs : Saison écologique, acide céto-9 décène-2 oïque, acide hydroxy-9 décène-2 oïque, acide hydroxy-10 décène-2 oïque, phéromone de déclenchement, phéromone d'amorçage, Apis m. ligustica, reine insecte, poids. RÉSUMÉ

Production and transmission of honey bee queen (Apis mellifera L.) mandibular gland pheromone

“…Pain et al (1974) found a seasonal pattern in the amount of 9-ODA and 9-HDA in the mandibular glands of virgin queens. For 9-ODA, a maximum appeared in June, possibly related to the spring swarming peak typical of honey bee colonies in temperate climates.…”

Quantitative Bestimmung Der 9-Oxodecensäure Im Lebenszyklus Der Kapbiene (Apis Mellifera Capensis Escholtz)

“…Il existe de nombreuses données concernant la corrélation entre l'âge et la production d'acide céto-9 9 décéne-2 oïque (acide céto-9) chez les reines (BU T L E R et PATON, 1962;PAIN et R OGE R, 1976, 1978PAIN et al, 1967PAIN et al, , 1972PAIN et al, , 1974 A l'aide d'une solution témoin d'acide céto-9 synthétique dilué dans l'acétone, que l'on injectait après chaque chromatogramme d'extrait de tête, on a pu savoir si de l'acide céto-9 était présent dans l'échantillon analysé et, si oui, dans quelle proportion (Fig. 1).…”

Age dependency of worker bee response to queen pheromone in a four-armed olfactometer

“…Thus, the extracts were prepared at the time of day when the production of 9-ODA is reported to be the highest, reaching 580 ~tg to 750 gg per queen in June at 11.00 h (Pain and Roger, 1978). The season corresponded to the beginning of a second peak of 9-ODA production (300-400 ~tg), measured in the same rearing and physiological conditions as ours (Pain et al, 1974).…”

“…470 gg) is higher than the amount usually mentioned in the literature (100-300 gg on average, reviewed by Velthuis, 1985). However, considerable variations occur depending on queen age, physiological state (unmated vs mated) (Pain et al, 1967;Crewe, 1982;Slessor et al, 1990;De Hazan et al, 1989), time of day (Pain and Roger, 1978) and season (Pain et al, 1974). Our extracts were obtained from 14-17-day-old unmated queens, killed at 10.00-11.00 h at the end of November.…”