The effects of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen reproductive potential on colony growth

Rangel, Juliana; Keller, Jennifer J.; Tarpy, David R.

doi:10.1007/s00040-012-0267-1

Cited by 91 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…As a result, queen weight is studied as a selection criterion in honeybee breeding programs (Souza et al, 2013) due to high heritability. Rangel et al (2013) observed that a honeybee colony can be evaluated as the extended phenotype of its queen, and thus the selection working mostly at the colony level may be equivalent at the individual level. Tarpy et al (2012) did not notice a correlation between queen body size and mating success.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Metorima

Costa-Maia

Halak

et al. 2015

Acta Sci. Anim. Sci.

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ABSTRACT. This study aimed to estimate live weight, the length and the width of wing and abdomen and the length, the width and the height of thorax in newly emerged Africanized honeybee queens up to 192 hours and their influence on final quality regarding appropriate storage techniques in queen banking or incubator and to verify the possibility of using these parameters as selection criteria in honeybee breeding programs. Queen honeybees were produced in summer, autumn and winter. The queen production method used throughout the experiments was adapted from Doolittle, and 68 the queens were weighed at emergence. Data were analyzed in R software by regression analysis of queen weight at emergence according to life time after emergence, in two types of storage. The weight of queens emerged in queen banking and incubator was significantly different (p < 0.05), with mean values of 165.61 and 157.04 mg, respectively. Queens kept in an incubator and in queen banking showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in wing length, abdomen length and thorax height. The weight of queen at emergence can be used as a selection criterion in honeybee breeding programs.Keywords: queen size, emergence, honeybee breeding, queen production.Medidas morfométricas de rainhas africanizadas mantidas em estufa ou colmeia banco de rainhas RESUMO. O objetivo do trabalho foi estimar peso vivo, comprimento e largura de asa e abdome e comprimento, largura e altura do tórax de rainhas Apis mellifera africanizadas recém-emergidas até 192h e sua influência na qualidade final com relação às técnicas apropriadas de armazenamento em banco de rainhas ou estufa e verificar se estes parâmetros podem ser utilizados como critério de seleção. Foram produzidas nas seguintes estações do ano: verão, outono e inverno. O método utilizado durante todo o experimento foi o adaptado de Doolitlle para a produção de rainhas e 68 rainhas foram pesadas à emersão. Os dados foram analisados no software R pela análise de regressão do peso da rainha à emergência em função do tempo de vida após a emersão, nos dois tipos de alojamento. Para peso, os efeitos da colmeia banco de rainhas e estufa foram significativos (p < 0,05), médias de 165,61 e 157,04 mg, respectivamente. As rainhas mantidas em estufa e colmeia banco de rainhas não apresentaram diferenças em relação ao comprimento da asa, ao comprimento do abdome e à altura do tórax. O peso de rainhas à emergência mantidas em colmeia banco de rainhas foi maior que o peso das rainhas mantidas em estufa. O peso das rainhas à emergência pode ser utilizado como critério de seleção.Palavras-chave: tamanho de rainhas, emersão, melhoramento de abelhas, produção de rainhas.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Metorima

Costa-Maia

Halak

et al. 2015

Acta Sci. Anim. Sci.

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“…After this time point, rerouting the phenotypic trajectory from worker to queen is correlated with reduced ovariole number, queen weight and semen storage capacity, all signs of reduced queen fecundity (Rangel et al, 2013;Woyke, 1971). This larvaeenurse bee signalling via larval pheromones thus enables workers to rear bees of the worker phenotype without queen characteristics through restrictive feeding during late larval development (Linksvayer et al, 2011;Page, 2013).…”

Section: Pheromones Regulate Complex Interactions In Insect Societiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The change in pheromone signals of larvae as they mature may have evolved concurrently with the regulated feeding regime imposed by nurse bees on worker larvae. Larvae benefit from a highly proteinaceous diet only during a limited developmental window, which rapidly closes after the third instar (Haydak, 1943(Haydak, , 1970Rangel, Keller, & Tarpy, 2013;Woyke, 1971), as the larvae lose their totipotency and can no longer be shunted into the queen development trajectory. As a direct result of diet, larvae change dramatically in size during larval development, increasing their weight up to 1500-fold during 6 days (Snodgrass, 1925), in large part due to protein synthesis in the fat body.…”

Section: Pheromones Regulate Complex Interactions In Insect Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age matters: pheromone profiles of larvae differentially influence foraging behaviour in the honeybee, Apis mellifera

2015

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Keywords:brood pheromone dimorphism division of labour e-beta ocimene honeybee larval feeding pheromone pollen foraging How a colony regulates the division of labour to forage for nutritional resources while accommodating for size and demographic composition is a fundamental question in the sociobiology of social insects. In honeybees, Apis mellifera, young and old larvae produce pheromones that differ in composition. Nurses differentially regulate larval nutrition, feeding young worker larvae a surplus diet that parallels queen larvae in protein composition and food availability, while old larvae are restrictively fed a diet with similar sugar content as queens. The presence of larvae affects division of labour, but it is unknown whether foragers regulate resource collection based on larval age or pheromone production in the nest. We studied how larval age demography and the larval pheromone e-beta ocimene affect foraging activity and foraging load. Our results suggest that workers recognize larval age, probably by detecting changes in the pheromones emitted by larvae as they mature, and adjust the foraging division of labour (pollen versus nectar) to meet the nutritional needs of the colony's brood. For younger larvae, this results in a bias towards pollen collection.

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“…Curiously, we found no evidence of either, which is not consistent with earlier studies. Previous studies have suggested that supersedure can occur because the queen is failing due to disease [48,49] or injury [50,51] but not grafting age [52], insemination volume [53], or oviposition rate [54]. Nonetheless, because queen supersedure has become increasingly problematic in commercial beekeeping operations [36][37][38], it remains a high priority to identify the causes of premature supersedure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, because queen supersedure has become increasingly problematic in commercial beekeeping operations [36][37][38], it remains a high priority to identify the causes of premature supersedure. Previous studies have reported differences in the chemical composition of the queen mandibular gland [52,[55][56][57][58] and the Dufour's gland [59] based on the queen's reproductive state and insemination quantity, therefore it would be very telling if there were significant differences in queen pheromones between queens raised in miticide-free versus miticideladen beeswax cups, and if so, to what degree workers inside the colony perceive these differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-Hive Miticides and their Effect on Queen Supersedure and Colony Growth in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Rangel¹

2016

J Environ Anal Toxicol

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The effects of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen reproductive potential on colony growth

Cited by 91 publications

References 36 publications

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Age matters: pheromone profiles of larvae differentially influence foraging behaviour in the honeybee, Apis mellifera

In-Hive Miticides and their Effect on Queen Supersedure and Colony Growth in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

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