Tropical and montane Apis cerana show distinct dance-distance calibration curves.

ABSTRACT: Social bees have evolved sophisticated communication systems to recruit nestmates to newly found food sources. As foraging ranges can vary from a few hundred meters to several kilometers depending on the environment or season, populations of social bee species living in different climate zones likely show specific adaptations in their recruitment communication. Accordingly, studies in the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, demonstrated that temperate populations exhibit shallower dance-calibration curves compared with tropical populations. Here, we report the first comparison of calibration curves for three Indian Apis cerana lineages: the tropical Apis indica, and the two montane Himalayan populations Apis cerana cerana (Himachal Pradesh) and Apis cerana kashmirensis (Jammu and Kashmir).

SUBMITTER: A K BK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11418176 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature