Production of wax by virgin queens of the stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Apidae, Meliponinae)

Abstract

Young virgin queens of the stingless beeMelipona bicolor have been shown to produce wax like workers. The small, white to transparent flakes of wax of the queens protrude from the intersegmental space and cover the anterior part of the tergite cuticle, in a way similar to that in workers. This points to the presence of wax glands in the queens. However, workers produce wax from glands located at the fourth to seventh tergites whereas queens secrete wax from the epidermal gland at the third tergite only. Analysis of the queen-produced wax showed that it contains the same substances as the worker-produced wax with minor differences in composition. The wax consists chiefly of the longchain esters triacontanyl acetate and octacosanyl acetate, smaller amounts of linear C 21 to C 31 alkanes and alkenes, and still smaller quantities of linear aldehydes and isobutyrate esters. Analysis of wax from wax deposits and wax constructs showed the same composition. Wax from M. bicolor is similar to that of other stingless bees in containing the range of linear long-chain alkenes and alkanes and different from that of Apis bees which contains a more complex mixture, less hydrocarbons and more long chain esters.

The thermal properties of beeswaxes: unexpected findings

“…Even fewer studies focus on waxes of other bees. Blomquist et al (Blomquist et al, 1985) analyzed the chemical composition of Trigona (Trigonisca) buyssoni (Fabricius) and Trigona (Trigonisca) atomaria (Ducke) waxes, Milborrow et al (Milborrow et al, 1987) analyzed Trigona australis (Smith), and Koedam et al (Koedam et al, 2002) examined the wax of Melipona bicolor (Lepeletier). The primary components of beeswaxes include alkanes, fatty acids and long-chain esters (Tulloch, 1980).…”

Tegumentary epithelial glands in the abdomen of virgin and physogastric queens of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona postica Latreille (Meliponini: Trigonina)

“…The production of wax by meliponine virgin queens was observed in Melipona bicolor (Koedam et al 2002), but not in the species examined in this study. Nevertheless, the production of wax, and even its manipulation (ImperatrizFonseca 1973) in meliponines may be more frequent than it was though.…”

“…The production of wax by virgin queens has been reported by some authors (Ihering 1903, Koedam et al 2002 and ImperatrizFonseca (1973) observed young virgin queens of Schwarziana quadripunctata Lepeletier, building wax alveoli, supporting a wax production function for these glands in the virgin queens, although wax production and manipulation for building the nest is a typical worker task.…”

Caste-specific cuticular lipids in the stingless beeFriesella schrottkyi

“…Pure oleic acid and methyl oleate were available for comparison. Triacontanyl acetate from the wax of Melipona bicolor (Koedam et al, 2002) was heated at 50…”