The role of chemical and acoustical stimuli in selective queen cell destruction by virgin queens of the honeybee Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to examine the role of chemical and acoustical stimuli in the detection of fully matured queens just prior to emergence by virgin honeybee queens. When the empty queen cells, which had previously housed either 9-day-old broods or adult queens just before emergence, were presented in pairs to virgin queens in the experimental cages, the virgin queens preferentially destroyed the queen cells that had housed emerging queens. We also found that virgin queens tended to destroy queen cells housing emerging queens that were allowed to move freely inside the cells much earlier than queen cells with movement-restricted emerging queens. These results suggest that both olfactory stimuli derived from the queen broods and acoustical stimuli caused by the movement of emerging queens are factors that virgin queens use to distinguish queen cells containing fully matured queens from those with younger ones.