Substantial variability in morphological scaling among bumblebee colonies.

ABSTRACT: Differences in organ scaling among individuals may play an important role in determining behavioural variation. In social insects, there are well-documented intraspecific differences in colony behaviour, but the extent that organ scaling differs within and between colonies remains unclear. Using 12 different colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris, we aim to address this knowledge gap by measuring the scaling relationships between three different organs (compound eyes, wings and antennae) and body size in workers. Though colonies were exposed to different rearing temperatures, this environmental variability did not explain the differences of the scaling relationships. Two colonies had differences in wing versus antenna slopes, three colonies showed differences in wing ver

SUBMITTER: Perl CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8753140 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature