Individual Queens Research Articles

Behavioural and Physiological Aspects of Nurse Bees in Relation to the Composition of Larval Food During Caste Differentiation in the Honeybee

SummaryThe behaviour of nurse bees provisioning honeybee (Apis mellifera) brood cells was studied by using video equipment to make long-terra recordings of individual queen and worker larvae from hatching until the brood cell was sealed. The contents of water, sugars, proteins, lipids and free amino acids were determined for larval food collected from brood cells containing drone, worker or queen larvae.The feeding pattern of queen larvae hardly altered during their development; most feedings occurred during relatively short ( 50 s) duration. In this period a marked decline was observed in the glucose/fructose ratio for worker jelly. After 84 h of larval age, feedings of long duration were interspersed with feedings of short duration. At this stage the ...

Differences in inhibitory capability among queens of the ant Solenopsis invicta

ABSTRACT. The abilities of various categories of queens of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, to inhibit de‐alation by virgin queens are compared by means of a standardized bioassay that detects the presence of an inhibitory pheromone. Highly fecund (high weight) queens of monogynous colonies and virgin replacement queens in queenless colonies have a significantly greater inhibitory capability than queens of lower fecundity (lower weight). In polygynous colonies, inhibitory effectiveness is also positively related to the fertility of individual queens, although no pheromone can be detected in queens that lay few eggs. Alate virgin queens that have overwintered in the parental nest, and sexually mature spring‐reared virgin queens, either do not produce the pheromone, or produce too little to be detected. These results are discussed in relation to the degree of ovarian development of different queen categories and in relation to the social status of these queens.

Polygyny in the Neotropical termite Nasutitermes corniger: life history consequences of queen mutualism

ecological aspects of monogyny and polygyny in social insect colonies are important in comparing individual queen reproductive success. Inseminated, fecund, multiple foundresses are common in some groups of ants and eusocial wasps, but true polygyny in termites has not previously been studied. One third of Nasutitermes corniger (Isoptera: Termitidae) colonies sampled in areas of young second growth in Panama contained from 2–33 primary queens (not supplementary or neotenic reproductives). All queens in polygynous associations were fully pigmented, physogastric egg layers within a single royal cell. Multiple kings were found less frequently; true polyandry is apparently restricted to immature polygynous colonies.

A METHOD FOR REARING VARIOUS SPECIES OF SOCIAL WASPS OF THE GENUS POLISTES (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE) UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS

Wasps of the genus Polistes have a number of characteristics that make them particularly suitable for studies on insect social behaviour. The females construct nests with exposed combs, have a reasonably complex social behaviour, and usually lack obvious morphological caste differences. In addition, the adults of many species establish colonies as groups of siblings (foundress associations), a method which is intermediate between colony founding by swarming, and colony founding by individual queens (Wilson 1971). Because of these characteristics, Polistes have been of interest to biologists who are concerned with the evolution of social behaviour in insects (e.g. Alexander 1974, Gibo 1974, Lin and Michener 1972, West 1967, West Eberhard 1969, 1975). Consequently, there is a need for a simple technique for rearing various species of Polistes under controlled conditions. Gibo (1974) briefly described modifications of Gillaspy's (1971) rearing method for P. apachus which made mass rearing of P. fascatus possible. This note describes the modified method in greater detail, and includes improvements that have resulted in increased yield and greater synchrony of colony growth. The improvements have been developed over 3 years and the method has been used to rear more than 100 colonies of various species of Polistes, including P. fuscatus, P. apachus, and P. dorsalis.

Brood-rearing behaviour in small cultures of the ant Myrmica rubra L

The behaviour of individual workers and queens in small spring-type cultures in observation nests has been studies by regular sampling of their activities. Winter larvae of two distinct sizes: (i) small, worker-biased and (ii) big queen-potential, were the only brood present. Workers have been classified behaviourally on a basis of the ratio of time spent on/off brood into nurses (⩾2), foragers (⩽0·5) and intermediates (<2>0·5). With a queen in the culture all types bite the sexual larvae, as does the queen herself occasionally but the time spent doing this declines in the order: foragers, intermediates, nurses, queens. Nurse attack is usually restricted to the later stages of a culture. All workers also feed sexual larvae a little in the presence of queens, mostly before and after the main phase of attack which lasts for 5 or 6 days; these larvae are fed much more frequently if queens are absent. By contrast, small, worker-biased larvae are fed mainly by nurses. Queens thus switch worker behaviour in relation to sexual larvae at an individual, not a group, level. Death and debility of the queen brings foragers in to assist the nurses in feeding big, sexual but not worker-biased larvae. Pale workers usually nurse and dark ones usually forage or behave as intermediates but there are exceptions. There is some evidence, too, that nurses are smaller than others.

The Population Consequences of Polygyny in the Ant Leptothorax curvispinosus1

In colonies of the ant, Leptothorax curvispinosus Mayr, the number of eggs in the standing crop appears to increase principally with the number of queens, but the number of larvae, and hence the colony growth rate, is independent of the number of queens, depending instead primarily on the size of the worker population. Hence the average reproductive potential of individual queens falls off linearly with an increase in their number. On the other hand, the presence of supernumerary queens lengthens the survival time of colonies. The latter circumstance alone, if combined with a higher degree of genetic relatedness among coexisting queens, counteracts the lowered per-queen reproductive potential and could be sufficient to favor polygyny in natural selection.

Fire ant venoms: Intraspecific and interspecific variation among castes and individuals

The ratio of cis-2-methyl-6- n-undecylpiperidine ( cis C 11) to trans-2-methyl-6- n-undecylpiperidine ( trans C 11) in the venom of individual workers and soldiers of Solenopsis geminata and in individual alate queens of S. geminata, S. xyloni, S. invicta, and S. richteri was estimated. A considerable variation in this ratio was demonstrated between individuals of a particular caste within a species. In spite of considerable individual variation, the various species nevertheless exhibit a fair degree of control of the biosynthetic system for these 2,6-disubstituted piperidine alkaloids. Results obtained on one colony of S. geminata soldiers suggested that these individuals may have arisen from at least two fertile queens in the nest.