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Virgin queen attraction toward males in honey bees
#MMPMID28740234
Bastin F
; Cholé H
; Lafon G
; Sandoz JC
Sci Rep
2017[Jul]; 7
(1
): 6293
PMID28740234
show ga
Although the honeybee is a crucial agricultural agent and a prominent scientific
model organism, crucial aspects of its reproductive behaviour are still unknown.
During the mating season, honeybee males, the drones, gather in congregations
10-40?m above ground. Converging evidence suggests that drones emit a pheromone
that can attract other drones, thereby increasing the size of the congregation.
Virgin queens join the vicinity of the congregation after it has formed, and mate
with as many as 20 males in mid-air. It is still unclear which sensory cues help
virgin queens find drone congregations in the first place. Beside visual cues for
long-range orientation, queens may use olfactory cues. We thus tested virgin
queens' olfactory orientation on a walking simulator in which they have full
control over odour stimulation. We show that sexually-mature virgin queens are
attracted to the odour bouquet from a group of living drones. They are not
attracted to the bouquet from a group of workers. In addition, non-sexually
receptive females (workers) of the same age are not attracted to the drone odour
bouquet. Interpreted in the context of mating, these results may suggest that
virgin queens use volatile olfactory cues from the drones to find the
congregations.
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