Age-specific olfactory attraction between Western honey bee drones (Apis mellifera) and its chemical basis.

ABSTRACT: During the mating season, drones (males) of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) form congregations numbering thousands high in the air. Virgin queens arrive at these congregations after they have formed and mate on the fly with 15-20 drones. To explain the formation of drone congregations, a drone-produced aggregation pheromone has been proposed many years ago but due to the low accessibility of natural mating sites in bees, its study has progressed slowly. Recently, we used a walking simulator in controlled laboratory conditions to show that drones are indeed attracted by groups of other drones. Since these previous experiments were carried out with drones captured when flying out of the hive, it is currently unclear if this olfactory attraction behaviour is related to the drones' sexu

SUBMITTER: Bastin F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5627955 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature