Visitation and gnawing behaviour of Japanese honeybee Apis cerana japonica to lettuce

Abstract

-The Japanese honeybee, Apis cerana japonica , is regarded as an important pollinator of crops and wild flowers. On the other hand, its gnawing behaviour on lettuce Lactuca spp. results in serious damage to the crop yield. Little is known about the gnawing behaviour of A. c. japonica . In the present study, field experiments were conducted to clarify the seasonality of this behaviour and the preference of A. c. japonica toward lettuce. The rates of lettuce damage by gnawing differed among furrows, and the maximum rate was 17 %, while A. c. japonica showed no preference according to lettuce type. The rate of gnawing behaviour on lettuce 31 days from seeding was significantly higher than that on lettuce at 20 days. Lettuce gnawing of A. c. japonica was not confirmed in spring but was seen in autumn, while there was no visitation to the lettuce by the European honeybee, Apis mellifera . These results suggested that A. c. japonica might require substances produced by lettuce in autumn for overwintering.

A scientific note on hive entrance smearing in Japanese Apis cerana induced by pre-mass attack scouting by the Asian giant hornet Vespa mandarinia

“…Overall, our study revealed a close relationship between the previously reported leaf-gnawing behaviour of A. cerena (Yokoi 2005(Yokoi , 2015 and the occurrence of dark-coloured stains around the entrances to the hives of these bees (Okada 1997;Sasaki 1999). The purpose of this behaviour is presumably to prevent mass attack by giant hornets.…”

“…Another A. cerana behaviour thought to be a defensive strategy to prevent predation by V. mandarinia is 'entrance smearing' with unknown materials, as suggested by Okada (1997) and Sasaki (1999). The use of plant materials other than pollen or nectar by A. cerana for non-nutritional purposes has not yet been demonstrated; A. cerana has been reported to gnaw leaves at the centre of green head lettuce (Yokoi 2005(Yokoi , 2015 in autumn. Here, we report the plant-gnawing behaviour of A. cerana attributable to the collection of plant materials used to smear around the hive entrance, leaving dark-coloured stains similar to those described by Okada (1997) and Sasaki (1999).…”

First report on the emergency dance of Apis ceranajaponica, which induces odorous plant material collection in response to Vespa mandarinia japonica scouting

“…c . japonica has been reported to gnaw on leaves and has been found at the centers of heads of green lettuce (Yokoi , ). However, it is not clear why A .…”

Scientific note on Apis koschevnikovi chewing petals of an orchid flower (Dipodium species O’Byrne KIP1272) in Borneo

“…This is the only report of a honeybee species chewing sepals and petals and thus destroying a flower. There is one publication on honeybees feeding on vegetative parts of plants (not on tepals) by Yokoi (2015). Worker bees of A. c. japonica feed on leaves of cultivated lettuce and, in addition, of several Asteracea plants.…”