University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Worker policing and worker reproduction in Apis cerana.

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 09:16 authored by Benjamin P Oldroyd, Luke A Halling, Gregory Good, Wandee Wattanachaiyingcharoen, Andrew B Barron, Piyamas Nanork, Siriwat Wongsiri, Francis Ratnieks
Workers of the Asian hive bee, Apis cerana, are shown to have relatively high rates of worker ovary activation. In colonies with an active queen and brood nest, 1-5% of workers have eggs in their ovarioles. When A. cerana colonies are dequeened, workers rapidly activate their ovaries. After 4 days 15% have activated ovaries and after 6 days, 40%. A cerana police worker-laid eggs in the same way that A. florea and A. mellifera do, but are perhaps slightly more tolerant of worker-laid eggs than the other species. Nevertheless, no worker's sons were detected in a sample of 652 pupal males sampled from 4 queenright colonies. A cerana continue to police worker-laid eggs, even after worker oviposition has commenced in a queenless colony.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

ISSN

0340-5443

Issue

4

Volume

50

Page range

371-377

Pages

7.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC