Unusual thermal defence by a honeybee against mass attack by hornets

Ono, Masato; Igarashi, Takeshi; Ohno, Eishi; Sasaki, Masami

doi:10.1038/377334a0

Cited by 215 publications

(265 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, Jataí workers use the characteristic lemon smell of L. limao as a kairomone, and respond to it by exiting their nest to defend (16,(30)(31)(32). Specialized defensive adaptations to a specific sympatric predator species are known in other bees as well; for example, Asian honey bees (Apis cerana japonica) can effectively prevent attacks of sympatric Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia) by killing wasp scouts in a highly coordinated fashion (33). In contrast, imported European honey bees (Apis mellifera) lack such a response when attacked by the same predator.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A morphologically specialized soldier caste improves colony defense in a neotropical eusocial bee

Grüter

Menezes

Imperatriz-Fonseca

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

135

106

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Division of labor among workers is common in insect societies and is thought to be important in their ecological success. In most species, division of labor is based on age (temporal castes), but workers in some ants and termites show morphological specialization for particular tasks (physical castes). Large-headed soldier ants and termites are well-known examples of this specialization. However, until now there has been no equivalent example of physical worker subcastes in social bees or wasps. Here we provide evidence for a physical soldier subcaste in a bee. In the neotropical stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula, nest defense is performed by two groups of guards, one hovering near the nest entrance and the other standing on the wax entrance tube. We show that both types of guards are 30% heavier than foragers and of different shape; foragers have relatively larger heads, whereas guards have larger legs. Low variation within each subcaste results in negligible size overlap between guards and foragers, further indicating that they are distinct physical castes. In addition, workers that remove garbage from the nest are of intermediate size, suggesting that they might represent another unrecognized caste. Guards or soldiers are reared in low but sufficient numbers (1-2% of emerging workers), considering that <1% usually perform this task. When challenged by the obligate robber bee Lestrimelitta limao, an important natural enemy, larger workers were able to fight for longer before being defeated by the much larger robber. This discovery opens up opportunities for the comparative study of physical castes in social insects, including the question of why soldiers appear to be so much rarer in bees than in ants or termites.Meliponini | caste evolution D ivision of labor among workers is nearly universal in eusocial insects (1-5). In most species, this division is based on temporal subcastes, in which workers specialize in different tasks at different ages ("age polyethism") (2, 4, 5). Physical worker subcastes (i.e., groups of workers with morphological adaptations for particular tasks) are less common (4-6). Only ∼15% of all ant genera contain species with physical worker subcastes, and no species of bee or wasp is known to have a division of labor based on physical subcastes (4-6). Where physical worker subcastes occur, they appear to benefit the colony by increasing the efficiency of key tasks such as defense, but have the disadvantage of preventing a colony from rapidly adjusting caste ratios if necessary (4-6). In addition, extreme subcastes, such as large-bodied soldiers, are more costly to rear and have a limited task repertoire (4). It also has been argued that individual-level selection might prevent the evolution of worker polymorphism if workers of different subcastes have varying opportunities to reproduce (5, 7). Given the number of ant and termite species with physical worker subcastes, the lack of evidence for physical worker subcastes in bees and wasps is an intriguing and ongoing puzzle in the study ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, imported European honey bees (Apis mellifera) lack such a response when attacked by the same predator. Like Jataí, Asian honey bees use chemicals produced by the intruder as kairomones (14,33).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A morphologically specialized soldier caste improves colony defense in a neotropical eusocial bee

Grüter

Menezes

Imperatriz-Fonseca

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

135

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…While conspecific robber bees steal the victim colony's stored honey during periods of nectar dearth (Free, 1977;Seeley, 1985), wasps take adult bees, brood, and honey. Both frequently kill the victim colony (Ono et al, 1995). Guard bees, with their ability to discriminate "friend from foe" (Lubbock, 1882), are therefore key to colony survival.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition errors by honey bee (Apis mellifera) guards demonstrate overlapping cues in conspecific recognition

Couvillon¹,

Roy²,

Ratnieks³

2009

J. of Api. Res

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SummaryHoney bee (Apis mellifera) entrance guards discriminate nestmates from intruders. We tested the hypothesis that the recognition cues between nestmate bees and intruder bees overlap by comparing their acceptances with that of worker common wasps, Vespula vulgaris, by entrance guards. If recognition cues of nestmate and non-nestmate bees overlap, we would expect recognition errors. Conversely, we hypothesised that guards would not make errors in recognizing wasps because wasps and bees should have distinct, non-overlapping cues. We found both to be true. There was a negative correlation between errors in recognizing nestmates (error: reject nestmate) and nonnestmates (error: accept non-nestmate) bees such that when guards were likely to reject nestmates, they were less likely to accept a nonnestmate; conversely, when guards were likely to accept a non-nestmate, they were less likely to reject a nestmate. There was, however, no correlation between errors in the recognition of nestmate bees (error: reject nestmate) and wasps (error: accept wasp), demonstrating that guards were able to reject wasps categorically. Our results strongly support that overlapping cue distributions occur, resulting in errors and leading to adaptive shifts in guard acceptance thresholds

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“…Above 45 o C enzyme activity and metabolism are likely adversely affected (Seeley, 1985). The Japanese race of the Asiatic hive bee, A. cerana japonica, has the remarkable capacity to cause the temperature in a ball of workers to rise to 46 o C in the defense "cooking" of hornet invaders in its nest Ono et al, 1995). The upper lethal temperature limit for this bee is 48-50 o C Ono et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Japanese race of the Asiatic hive bee, A. cerana japonica, has the remarkable capacity to cause the temperature in a ball of workers to rise to 46 o C in the defense "cooking" of hornet invaders in its nest Ono et al, 1995). The upper lethal temperature limit for this bee is 48-50 o C Ono et al, 1995). In clusters of European honeybees, temperatures of about 46 o C have been recorded (Heinrich, 1993) but few studies have been made on the prolonged effects of high temperatures on worker honey bees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical temperatures for survival of brood and adult workers of the giant honeybee, Apis dorsata (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Mardan

Kevan

2002

Apidologie

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-Capped brood ( capped within 36 h) and adult workers of Apis dorsata were removed from naturally occurring colonies and kept incubated in laboratory hoarding cages at constant temperatures ranging from 26 to 45 o C to study mortality, survivorship, and water and syrup consumption. Capped brood died at temperatures above 36 o C. Below 30 o C adults tended to emerge deformed. Low temperatures delayed development. The optimal temperature for complete emergence of healthy adult workers was 34 o C. Adult workers survived well from about 26 to 36 o C. At 38 o C they died within 5 days and at 45 o C they died within 48 hours. Although syrup (1 sugar: 1 water W/W) consumption did not change over the range of temperatures used, water consumption rose rapidly above 38 o C to over 3 ml/bee in 48 hours at 45 o C. Nest temperature control is critical for survival of brood of A. dorsata and adult worker bees have tight constraints on their abilities to endure high temperatures. Water availability is vital for cooling the colony under hot, tropical conditions, and rearing healthy brood.Apis dorsata/ optimal temperature/ thermoregulation/ tropical Asia/ brood/ workers

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Unusual thermal defence by a honeybee against mass attack by hornets

Cited by 215 publications

References 5 publications

A morphologically specialized soldier caste improves colony defense in a neotropical eusocial bee

A morphologically specialized soldier caste improves colony defense in a neotropical eusocial bee

Recognition errors by honey bee (Apis mellifera) guards demonstrate overlapping cues in conspecific recognition

Critical temperatures for survival of brood and adult workers of the giant honeybee, Apis dorsata (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

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