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Social parasitism by workers in queenless and queenright Apis cerana colonies
Author(s) -
NANORK P.,
CHAPMAN N. C.,
WONGSIRI S.,
LIM J.,
GLOAG R. S.,
OLDROYD B. P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2006.03207.x
Subject(s) - biology , parasitism , nest (protein structural motif) , apis cerana , reproduction , zoology , worker bee , ecology , host (biology) , honey bee , honey bees , biochemistry
We examined worker reproduction in queenless and queenright Apis cerana colonies to determine if they are parasitized by workers from other nests. The results demonstrate that 2–6% of workers in queenright colonies are from another nest (non‐natal), but these workers are not statistically more likely to have activated ovaries than natal workers, and are therefore unlikely to be active parasites. However, in queenless colonies we found a significant difference between the proportion of non‐natal (72.7%) and natal (36.3%) workers with activated ovaries. Non‐natal workers also had significantly higher reproductive success than natal workers: 1.8% of workers were non‐natal, but these laid 5.2% of the eggs and produced 5.5% of the pupae. Unlike A. florea , the proportion of non‐natal workers does not increase in queenless nests.