Parasitic honeybees get royal treatment

Madeleine Beekman (), Johan N. M. Calis and Willem Jan Boot
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Madeleine Beekman: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen Agricultural University
Johan N. M. Calis: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen Agricultural University
Willem Jan Boot: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen Agricultural University

Nature, 2000, vol. 404, issue 6779, 723-723

Abstract: Abstract Since the human-assisted movement of the Cape honeybee Apis mellifera capensis out of its native territory, its workers have invaded colonies of the African honeybee A. m. scutellata. When this happens, their ovaries develop and they begin to reproduce1, which results in the death of the scutellata queen, and eventually in either the death of the colony or the production of a capensis (worker-produced) queen1. We have found that capensis larvae alter the behaviour of non-capensis workers and receive royal treatment, resulting in adult females with queenlike characteristics (pseudoqueens2,3,4).

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35008148

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