Comparing the Appetitive Learning Performance of Six European Honeybee Subspecies in a Common Apiary.

ABSTRACT: The Western honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) is one of the most widespread insects with numerous subspecies in its native range. How far adaptation to local habitats has affected the cognitive skills of the different subspecies is an intriguing question that we investigate in this study. Naturally mated queens of the following five subspecies from different parts of Europe were transferred to Southern Germany: A. m. iberiensis from Portugal, A. m. mellifera from Belgium, A. m. macedonica from Greece, A. m. ligustica from Italy, and A. m. ruttneri from Malta. We also included the local subspecies A. m. carnica in our study. New colonies were built up in a common apiary where the respective queens were introduced. Worker offspring from the different subspecies were compared in classical olfactor

SUBMITTER: Scheiner R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8468525 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature