Heritabilities of honey-bee alarm pheromone production

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Abstract
Honey-bee queens (Apis mellifera L.) were mated to single drones from either European (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA) or Africanized (Maturin, Monagas, Venezuela) honey-bee colonies. Stings and heads from worker-bee offspring of these matings were collected in methylene chloride and later analyzed by gas chromatograph for 12 sting-associated alarm pheromones. Heritability values of 0.48 to 1.98 were estimated for 10 of the pheromones. Two were not estimable due to negative variance components. Genetic correlations were significant and positive between all sting pheromones except octyl acetate, Indicating common genetic regulation. Octyl acetate was genetically correlated with 2-heptanone produced by the mandibuiar glands.