Behavioural response of drone honey bees, Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera scutellata, to worker-produced pheromone components

Abstract

SUMMARYTo investigate the behavioural response of drone honey bees, Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera scutellata, to the pheromone components isopentyl acetate (IPA) and geraniol, and the non-pheromone octanal, we conducted three different types of experiment: (1), in a glass arena; (2), in a Y-shaped maze; and (3), in a classical conditioning test. IPA caused arousal (more walking and wing beating) and avoidance, and geraniol caused arousal and attraction for drones of both subspecies. In the conditioning experiment the learning success of the drones was high for geraniol, medium for octanal and low for IPA.