Queen Discrimination by Honey Bee1 Swarms
- 15 September 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Annals of the Entomological Society of America
- Vol. 72 (5) , 673-675
- https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/72.5.673
Abstract
A dequeened swarm of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) can distinquish between their own and a foreign queen when presented with a choice. We found that bees from a dequeened swarm, presented with 2 foreign queens, prefer the one more similar in age and reproductive status to their original queen. In addition, bees from a swarm with a mated queen prefer an old virgin over a young virgin queen. The learned recognition of the own queen's pheromone production, possibly in conjunction with her acquired environmental or hive odor, may account for this ability of the workers.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Swarm Orientation in HoneybeesScience, 1963