The effect of social interactions on the production of mandubular gland signals in female african honeybees (apis mellifera adansoni )

Abstract
The a b ility of tpeenless Agl# mwllifera adanaonll worker# to product queen phtroroone# In th e ir »andlbular gland# was examined gas ehrometographlcelly, and was compared with the degree of overial development that occurred in these individuals. Analyses were also mode o f the mandibular gland secretions of M i Mlii-feEI mdaneonil. queens end queenrlght workers. The ovaries of workers were found to be extremely underdeveloped. Over!oles were filamentous and often lacked a d istin ct germariw. Humbere per ovary varied from none to twelve (average 3 .St) and In one sample from none to eight (average 2.88). Ovaries that lacked d istin ct ©variolas had only fine strands attached to the lateral oviducts to suggest th e ir presence. Ovary development was found to occur more readily in queen)ess tees that were less than three weeks old when ttie queen was removed than in workers that wore older. While a number of individuals became functional laying workers in qucenleas Apis mejlifers edaneonii colonies none evoked retinue behaviour and none suppressed ovary development in neetmatee. Over 99 per cent of queenless bees were found hot to secrete 9-keto decenoic acid. Two ten day olds that were secreting 9-keto decenoic acid had secretions that were qualitatively very similar to those of mated queens, however neither had mature eggs in th e ir ovaries. Levels of decenoic acid end 2-heptanone, which were both major components of the mandibular gland secretions of queenrlght workers, were found to diminish markedly with ovary development. The secretions of mated queens of A lii melllfera edamemii were remarkably homogenous with regard to the ratio of f-ket© 'decenoic acid, 9-hydroxy decenoic acid and 10-hydroxy decenoic acid, although amounts varlnd substantially.' The amounts of 9-keto decenoic acid in meted queen secretlone varied between 116,6 micrograms end 390,3 mlerograma (average 2)0,3 micr©grams), The secretions of a number of virgin queens of various ages were tie© analysed, and were found to be significantly different from those of mated queens. f 1,' 1 i'
Description
A Dissertation Submitted to the faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrsnd, Johannesburg for the Degree of Master of Science Johanmsburg 1982
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