Honey Bee Inhibitory Signaling Is Tuned to Threat Severity and Can Act as a Colony Alarm Signal.

ABSTRACT: Alarm communication is a key adaptation that helps social groups resist predation and rally defenses. In Asia, the world's largest hornet, Vespa mandarinia, and the smaller hornet, Vespa velutina, prey upon foragers and nests of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. We attacked foragers and colony nest entrances with these predators and provide the first evidence, in social insects, of an alarm signal that encodes graded danger and attack context. We show that, like Apis mellifera, A. cerana possesses a vibrational "stop signal," which can be triggered by predator attacks upon foragers and inhibits waggle dancing. Large hornet attacks were more dangerous and resulted in higher bee mortality. Per attack at the colony level, large hornets elicited more stop signals than small hornets. Unexpected

SUBMITTER: Tan K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4807812 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature