Hormonal Regulation of Age Polyethism in the Honeybee, Apis mellifera

Abstract

This paper develops a model of hormonally regulated division of labor in honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies. According to the model, changes in juvenile hormone (JH) titers modulate the bees’ responses to stimuli associated with the tasks they perform. JH seems to act as a behavioral primer, regulating a colony’s allocation of labor by altering the probabilities with which individual bees perform different tasks. JH also coordinates the tightly coupled processes of age-dependent exocrine and behavioral development. Results implicating JH in the control of age polyethism are reviewed, including the findings that JH analog methoprene causes precocious foraging, affects the timing and frequency of task performance in the nest and induces premature production of alarm pheromones. Methoprene also causes a premature decrease in the threshold sensitivity to alarm pheromones, which agrees with the prediction that JH modulates the perception of task-related stimuli. This model is consistent with the data currently available, but needs considerable testing; relevant studies are suggested.