Numerical investment in sex and caste by stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini): a comparative analysis

Santos-Filho, Pérsio de Souza; Alves, Denise A.; Eterovic, André; Imperatriz-Fonseca, Vera Lúcia; Kleinert, Astrid de Matos Peixoto

doi:10.1051/apido:2006015

Cited by 28 publications

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“…Regarding the percentages of sexual individuals (22.46 % were males and 11.52 % were virgin gynes), these differences compared to the data reported in other tropical species such as M. favosa, M. trinitatis, M. asilvai, M. bicolor, M. subnitida and M. rufiventris, indicate that the percentage of males and queens are lower than in M. colimana (20,23,24) . Similarly, recent studies (25) , reports from M. bicolor a production of 4.7 % males, four times less in this species than in M. colimana.…”

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“…En este sentido, el hecho de que en una colonia existan obreras reproductivas puede estar regulado por la relación familiar de los hijos de la reina con los posibles hijos de las obreras (12,21) . Debido a que generalmente las reinas de las abejas sin aguijón se aparean con un solo macho, las obreras hijas son hermanas completas, por lo que están más estrechamente relacionadas con los hijos de sus hermanas (sobrinos machos) que con sus hermanos (machos hijos de la reina), favoreciendo con esto la descendencia de sus hermanas y de los suyos mismos; provocando con esto una competencia con la reina por el origen de los machos (11,12,22) .Respecto a los porcentajes de individuos sexuados (el 22.46 % fueron machos y el 11.52 % resultaron reinas vírgenes), estos presentaron diferencias respecto a los datos que se han reportado en otras especies tropicales como M. favosa, M. trinitatis, M. asilvai, M. bicolor, M. subnitida y M. rufiventris, en donde el porcentaje de machos y reinas son más bajos que en M. colimana (20,23,24) . De la misma manera, en estudios recientes (25) , se reporta para M. bicolor una producción de machos de 4.7 %, que al compararlo con los in M. colimana the participation of females in the production of males is restricted only to queens.…”

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“…Respecto a los porcentajes de individuos sexuados (el 22.46 % fueron machos y el 11.52 % resultaron reinas vírgenes), estos presentaron diferencias respecto a los datos que se han reportado en otras especies tropicales como M. favosa, M. trinitatis, M. asilvai, M. bicolor, M. subnitida y M. rufiventris, en donde el porcentaje de machos y reinas son más bajos que en M. colimana (20,23,24) . De la misma manera, en estudios recientes (25) , se reporta para M. bicolor una producción de machos de 4.7 %, que al compararlo con los in M. colimana the participation of females in the production of males is restricted only to queens.…”

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Quantification of brood emergence and distribution ofindividuals in Melipona colimana (Hymenoptera:Meliponini) in temperate climate

Macías-Macías

Quezada-Euán²

2015

Rev. Mex. Cienc. Pecu.

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RESUMENMelipona colimana es una abeja sin aguijón endémica de México que habita las regiones de clima templado del sur del estado de Jalisco. Se hicieron observaciones durante el otoño para contabilizar la emergencia de los individuos e inferir la posible participación de las obreras en la producción de machos. Se analizó el comportamiento de las obreras y la reina en el proceso de aprovisionamiento y oviposición (POP), se obtuvo la proporción de individuos en los panales de cría y su distribución espacial para detectar aglomeraciones de machos. En los análisis de los POP no se observaron evidencias de la actividad de obreras reproductivas. En los panales, el 65.9 % de los individuos que emergieron fueron obreras, el 22.4 % machos (sin registrarse aglomeraciones) y el 11.5 % resultaron reinas vírgenes. Se observó que la producción de individuos sexuados (machos y reinas) fue más alta que las especies tropicales, lo que pudiera ser una estrategia de esta especie para garantizar su reproducción en climas templados. El no tener evidencias visuales de la actividad de obreras reproductivas, junto con el hecho de que no se registraron aglomeraciones de machos en los panales de cría, sugiere que en esta especie y en esta temporada del año todos los huevos que se desarrollaron como machos provienen de la reina. Con los resultados de este trabajo se amplía el conocimiento de la biología particular de esta especie de clima templado y se hace una comparación con las especies de distribución tropical. PALABRAS CLAVE: Melipona colimana, Emergencia, Machos, Obreras, Reinas, Clima templado. ABSTRACTMelipona colimana is a stingless bee endemic of Mexico that inhabiting temperate regions of the Southern State of Jalisco. Observations were made during the fall to infer the possible participation of the workers in the production of males. The behavior of workers and queen in provisioning and oviposition process (POP) was analyzed, the proportion of individuals was obtained in the brood combs and their spatial distribution for detecting clusters of males. In the analysis of POPs no evidence of reproductive labor activity of workers were observed. In the brood combs, 65.9 % of individuals that emerged were workers, 22.4 % males (without registering agglomerations) and 11.5 % were gynes. It was observed that the production of sexed individuals (males and gynes) was higher than tropical species, which could be a strategy of this species to ensure their reproduction in temperate climates. Having no visual evidence of the activity of reproductive workers together with the fact that no clusters of males in the brood combs were found, suggests that in this species at this time of year, all the eggs that developed as males come from the queen. With the results of this study, knowledge of the particular biology of this mountain stingless bee species is extended and a comparison with tropical species is made. 234José Octavio Macías-Macías, et al. / Rev Mex Cienc Pecu 2015;6(2):233-241 De manera general, el conocimiento de la biología de ...

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Quantification of brood emergence and distribution ofindividuals in Melipona colimana (Hymenoptera:Meliponini) in temperate climate

Macías-Macías

Quezada-Euán²

2015

Rev. Mex. Cienc. Pecu.

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“…For instance, in stingless bees, the production of males, including that by worker reproduction (see Tóth et al 2004), may be at the expense of a future worker-force (Koedam 1999;Santos-Filho et al 2006). Furthermore, reproductive or dominant hymenopteran workers were found to execute certain nest-tasks in a mediocre or inefficient way (Ross 1985;Cole 1986;Hillesheim et al 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

Cell-sealing efficiency and reproductive workers in the species Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Meliponini): double standard and possible rogue conduct

Koedam¹,

Imperatriz-Fonseca

2011

Apidologie

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2012Cell-sealing efficiency and reproductive workers in the species Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Meliponini): double standard and possible rogue conduct APIDOLOGIE, PARIS, v. 43, n. 4, pp. 371-383, JUL, 2012 Abstract -In many hymenopteran insect societies, selfish workers are policed, as selfishness can negatively affect the average inclusive fitness of one or both castes by reducing either the degree of average relatedness to the colony's male offspring or colony efficiency. In stingless bees, the rapid capping of brood cells could aid in controlling selfishness; to this end, we studied cell-sealing efficacy in Melipona bicolor. Execution of cell sealing was found to be both rapid and almost continuous. Comparing the performance of reproductive and non-reproductive workers, the former sealed the cells more efficiently when they contained their own eggs, but less so when the queens' eggs were involved. We argue that the occurrence of disruptions in cell sealing through self-serving reproductive workers is capable of undermining sealing efficacy as a policing instrument, thus making reproductive workers potential rogue individuals.stingless bees / Melipona bicolor / cell sealing / efficiency / reproductive workers / rogue conduct

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“…Regardless of the mode of caste determination the fate of virgin queens in queen right, non-swarming stingless bee colonies is the same -the workers execute them some time after their emergence (Engels and Imperatriz-Fonseca, 1990;Imperatriz-Fonseca and Zucchi, 1995). This process is particularly conspicuous in Melipona, where the number of emerging queens is very high, usually being several percent of the female progeny (Kerr, 1948(Kerr, , 1950(Kerr, , 1969Kerr and Nielsen, 1966;Darchen and Delage-Darchen, 1975;Koedam, 1999;van Veen, 2000;Moo-Valle et al, 2001Sommeijer et al, 2003a;Wenseleers et al, 2004;Morais et al, 2006;Santos-Filho et al, 2006). Furthermore, Melipona excess virgin queens are killed within a few hours or days following their emergence from the brood cells (Kerr et al, 1962;Sakagami and Oniki, 1963;Sakagami et al, 1965;Silva et al, 1972;Kleinert and Imperatriz-Fonseca, 1994;Koedam et al, 1995;van Veen et al, 1999;Wenseleers et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virgin queen execution in the stingless beeMelipona beecheii: The sign stimulus for worker attacks

et al. 2009

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-Stingless bees produce considerable numbers of virgin queens over the year, most of which are superfluous and get executed by the workers. Nothing is known yet about the sign stimulus that releases the worker attacks. In the present study we investigated the queen execution process in Melipona beecheii and found in both behavioral observations and experiments with caged living virgin queens that workers are not attracted to them from a distance by means of volatile chemicals. Furthermore, worker aggression, which is obvious towards virgin queens that run through the nest excitedly with their abdomen enlarged and the wings beating, was lowered to almost zero when we made the queens "behavior-less" by experimentally killing them. Our results clearly show that the sign stimulus for releasing the execution behavior in Melipona beecheii workers is not a chemical stimulus but the virgin queens' conspicuous behavior, which, we hypothesize, could act as a direct measure of their fitness. stingless bee / Melipona beecheii / virgin queen execution / queen behavior / worker attacks

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Numerical investment in sex and caste by stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini): a comparative analysis

Cited by 28 publications

References 48 publications

Quantification of brood emergence and distribution ofindividuals in Melipona colimana (Hymenoptera:Meliponini) in temperate climate

Quantification of brood emergence and distribution ofindividuals in Melipona colimana (Hymenoptera:Meliponini) in temperate climate

Cell-sealing efficiency and reproductive workers in the species Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Meliponini): double standard and possible rogue conduct

Virgin queen execution in the stingless beeMelipona beecheii: The sign stimulus for worker attacks

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