Abnormal behaviors mediated by nest cell size: a case study with Yemeni honey bees

Abstract

In the Yemeni honey bee, Apis mellifera jementica, as in other species of honey bees in the genus Apis, the queen is responsible for the egg-laying duties, while workers are facultatively sterile and perform other colony-wide tasks. Under certain conditions, however, workers can lay unfertilized eggs that develop into male drones. In this study, the effect of cell size on queen egg laying and worker policing behaviorswas investigated. Yemeni honey bee queens were allowed to lay eggs in different cell size combs. Abnormal queen-laid eggs in large cell size combs were found to be removed by workers firstly followed by worker-laid eggs within 24 hours while abnormal queen-laid eggs, in normal cell size combs, survived up to three days. Nest cell size seemed to contribute in the alteration of queen egg laying and policing behaviors.