Mandibular gland pheromone contents in workers and queens of Apis mellifera adansonii

Abstract

-Secretions from the mandibular glands of honeybees have been studied extensively, with those of queens dominated by ώ-9 fatty acids and ώ-10 fatty acids dominating those of non-laying workers. Apis mellifera adansonii (Latreille) is one of the widely distributed subspecies of African honeybees. However, its mandibular gland pheromones have not been analysed previously. Using gas chromatography, we analysed the composition of mandibular gland pheromones in workers and queens of A. mellifera adansonii from Nigeria. Qualitatively, workers and queens have similar pheromone profiles to those previously reported in other African subspecies of honeybees. We found 9-ODA and high amounts of its precursor 9-hydroxy-2 (E )-decenoic acid (9-HDA) in workers, thus showing that they produce queen-like signals under queen-right conditions. We also found geographic variation in the pheromone profiles and morphometric characters of these workers, suggesting different pheromone and morphoclusters from the different ecological and climatological regions inhabited by A. m. adansonii in Nigeria.African honeybees / queen-right / mandibular gland secretions / pheromone clusters / morphoclusters

Reproductive traits and mandibular gland pheromone of anarchistic honey bee workers Apis mellifera occurring in China

“…When comparing with literature data, the total amounts in both IAWs and AWs were higher than in A. mellifera queenright workers (2.59±0.62 μg), while they were less than A. mellifera queen-less workers (10.73± 2.30 μg) (Tan et al 2012). Since pheromonal dominance can translate into throphallactic dominance and greater ovarian activation potential (Schäfer et al 2006), it would suggest that our anarchistic workers have a higher reproductive potential than the "standard" A. mellifera queenright workers and perhaps even than laying workers of other anarchistic lines or other European subspecies, but most likely not laying workers of African subspecies (Zheng et al 2010;Yusuf et al 2015). The extracts of IAWs had the typical worker-like profiles dominated by "worker substances" 10-HDA and 10-HDAA.…”

“…The worker mandibular gland secretion under queenright conditions is dominated by the "worker substances" 10-hydroxy-2(E)-decenoic acid (10-HDA) and 10-hydroxyde-canoic acid (10-HDAA) (Crewe 1982;Plettner et al 1993). However, workers are able to shift the synthesis towards the queen pathway and queens can also produce worker substances (Yusuf et al 2015). Workers mostly change the pheromonal bouquet under queen-less conditions, in particular workers of A. m. capensis quickly develop into "pseudoqueens" which lay eggs and produce queen-like gland secretion dominated by the queen substance (9-ODA) in their mandibular glands (Crewe and Velthuis 1980;Moritz et al 2000;Simon et al 2001).…”

Glandular sources of pheromones used to control host workers (Apis mellifera scutellata) by socially parasitic workers of Apis mellifera capensis

“…The temperature of the oven was set at 50°C and then increased to 100°C at 50°C per min, thereafter increased to 220°C at a rate of 3°C per min and maintained at this temperature for 10 min. The six major mandibular components (HOB, 9-ODA, HVA, 9-HDA, 10HDAA and 10HDA) were quantified using peak areas and their relative mass ratios calculated relative to the internal standard tetradecane (Simon et al, 2001;Yusuf et al, 2015).…”

Control of mandibular gland pheromone synthesis by alternative splicing of the CP-2 transcription factor gemini in honeybees (Apis mellifera carnica)

“…In contrast, the composition of the mandibular gland pheromones of workers differs from the bouquet produced by the queen (Callow et al 1959;Plettner et al 1996). Their mandibular gland secretions are dominated by hydroxy acids that have been functionalized at the last (ω) position such as 10-HDA and the corresponding saturated acid (10-HDAA) (Callow et al 1959, Yusuf et al 2015.…”