Locomotion and searching behaviour in the honey bee larva depend on nursing interaction

Diego E Vázquez,Walter M Farina

doi:10.1007/s13592-021-00907-0

Abstract

Although honey bee brood does not need to seek shelter or food and restricts its movements to small wax cells, larvae have some degree of motility. Previously, other studies described how honey bee larvae showed analogous behaviours to the wandering period in holometabolous insects. The current research aimed to measure locomotion of the honey bee brood at different conditions of food supply and larval stadia. Besides, we developed an actometry assay to describe the larval behaviour under laboratory conditions. Our results suggested that the satiety and developmental program of larvae modulated their locomotion. Before they pupated, larval speed increased sharply and then it dropped until quiescence. However, starvation also induced an increase in angular velocity of brood. Starved larvae were between three and five times faster than the satiated ones. Moreover, fifth instars left their wax cells after 2 h of starvation without nurse bees. In the actometry assay, larvae showed behaviours of dispersion and changes in their kinematic parameters after detecting a tactile stimulus like the edge of arenas.

Highlights

As eusocial holometabolous insects, the honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) live within a nest as a colony with a single reproductive female and cooperative brood care among sisters (Winston 1987)
TVohle.:(d01i2ff3e4r5e6n78t 9k)inds of locomotion in larvae are the consequence of different motor patterns which depend on the type of larva and the survival strategy (Brackenbury 2000; van Griethuijsen and Trimmer 2014)
56% of the monitored larvae showed locomotion in circles at the bottom of the wax cells with transversal turns in the clockwise direction

Summary

Introduction

The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) live within a nest as a colony with a single reproductive female (queen) and cooperative brood care among sisters (Winston 1987). Brood pheromones and odour cues inform the presence of larvae, their developmental stage and food needs (Pankiw 2004). This complex brood rearing system is distinctive of certain eusocial hymenopteran species and. For this reason, locomotion and searching behaviours in most larvae are relevant traits allowing them to avoid predators and to seek food or shelter. Locomotion and searching behaviour in the honey bee larva depend on nursing interaction TVohle.:(d01i2ff3e4r5e6n78t 9k)inds of locomotion in larvae are the consequence of different motor patterns which depend on the type of larva and the survival strategy (Brackenbury 2000; van Griethuijsen and Trimmer 2014).

Methods

Results

Conclusion