| Title: | "Effects of age and Reproductive Status on Tergal Gland Secretions in Queenless Honey bee Workers, Apis mellifera scutellata and A. m. capensis" |
| Author(s): | Okosun OO; Yusuf AA; Crewe RM; Pirk CW; |
| Address: | "Social Insects Research Group, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Private Bag X20, 0028, Pretoria, South Africa. bimpy@zoology.up.ac.za. Social Insects Research Group, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Private Bag X20, 0028, Pretoria, South Africa" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10886-015-0630-6 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-1561 (Electronic) 0098-0331 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Secretions from tergal glands are part of a queen's pheromonal control of worker reproduction in honey bees. However, in queenless honey bee colonies, workers compete to gain pheromonal, and hence reproductive dominance, over nestmates with ontogenetic changes in their glandular secretions that affect the behavioral or physiological responses of other individuals. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, we investigated for the first time the age-dependent changes in tergal gland secretions of queenless workers of the clonal lineage of Apis mellifera capensis and workers of A. m. scutellata. The reproductive status of honey bee workers was determined by recording the presence of spermathecae and the level of ovarian activation. The tergal gland chemicals identified in both A. m. scutellata workers and A. m. capensis clone workers were oleic acid, n-tricosene, n-pentacosene, and n-heptacosene, with three additional compounds, palmitic acid, n-heneicosene, and n-nonacosene, in A. m. capensis clones. We report ethyl esters as new compounds from honey bee worker tergal gland profiles; these compounds increased in amount with age. All A. m. capensis clone workers dissected had spermathecae and showed ovarian activation from day 4, while ovarian activation only started on day 7 for A. m. scutellata workers that had no spermathecae. Tergal gland secretions were present in higher quantities in bees with activated, rather than inactive ovaries. This suggests that tergal gland secretions from reproductive workers could act as releaser and primer pheromones in synergy with other glandular compounds to achieve pheromonal and reproductive dominance" |
| Keywords: | Age Factors Animals Bees/*physiology Exocrine Glands/metabolism Pheromones/chemistry/isolation & purification/*metabolism Reproduction Social Dominance Species Specificity Age Ethyl esters Honey bee Invasive bee Ovarian activation Queenless workers Reprod; |
| Notes: | "MedlineOkosun, Olabimpe O Yusuf, Abdullahi A Crewe, Robin M Pirk, Christian W W eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2015/09/19 J Chem Ecol. 2015 Oct; 41(10):896-903. doi: 10.1007/s10886-015-0630-6. Epub 2015 Sep 17" |
