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Mimicking a Honeybee Queen? Vespa affinis indosinensis Pérez 1910 Hunts Drones of Apis cerana F. 1793
Author(s) -
Koeniger Nikolaus,
Koeniger Gudrun,
Mardan Makhdzir
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01065.x
Subject(s) - drone , apis cerana , biology , queen (butterfly) , mimicry , zoology , honey bee , predation , ecology , honey bees , hymenoptera , botany
Hornets ( Vespa affinis ) flying in a drone congregation area attracted drones of Apis cerana . The drones followed the hornet and were ‘manoeuvred’ towards a leaf or a tree. The hornet then rushed at one of the drones. Many attempts by the hornet to catch a drone were unsuccessful and all drones fled. After failing, the hornet returned to centre of the drone congregation area and repeated the behaviour. Only after successfully seizing of a drone did the hornet leave the drone congregation area carrying its prey. In a two‐choice test in the centre of the drone congregation area, free‐flying A. cerana drones preferred a hornet model to a live A. cerana queen. V. affinis apparently ‘exploits’ the intraspecific communication between queen and drones of A. cerana . Hunting of drones in the drone congregation area by V. affinis may be an example of predatory mimicry.