4种农药对意大利蜜蜂的毒力测定

利用摄入法测定联苯菊酯、溴氰菊酯、双甲脒和氟胺氰菊酯对意大利蜜蜂工蜂的毒性。结果表明,4种农药对意大利蜜蜂工蜂的LC50分别为16.263、62.900、302.784、1001.755mg/L。     

Nasonov pheromone of the honeybee.Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera,Apidae)

Electroantennogram (EAG) responses from worker honeybee antennae were obtained for each Nasonov component. Response amplitudes to 10 g of components correlated well with reported relative abilities to attract foragers in the field. EAG responses of worker, queen, and drone antennae to natural pheromone were consistently greater than to synthetic pheromone, a difference only partly explained by enzymic conversion of geraniol to (E)-citral during preparation of natural extracts.     

Associative Olfactory Learning of Honeybees to Differential Rewards in Multiple Contexts—Effect of Odor Component and Mixture Similarity

Discrimination among differentially rewarding flowers allows honeybees to maximize their foraging efficiency. We studied how honeybees are able to relate to differential positive rewards when the odor representations are either structurally dissimilar, structurally similar (or form a substrate–product duo in planta), or form a binary mixture sharing a common constituent. Bees were tested both in conditioning of the proboscis-extension response (PER) and in a free-flying context. Our results point to honeybees using olfactory associative learning to differentiate between two positively rewarded odors. In PER, subjects discriminated best between dissimilar odors; they initially generalized between similar odors, but eventually learned to discriminate between them. The discrimination between mixtures sharing a common constituent remained poor. Likewise, the difference in visits to low- and high-rewarding flowers of free-flying bees was greater for dissimilar odors than for binary mixtures sharing a common constituent. Consequences of the operant conditioning nature of the free-flying context are discussed.     

蜜蜂蜂王不同于工蜂的关键因素-蜂王浆主蛋白1

蜂王浆是决定蜜蜂幼虫发育中级型分化,即成为蜂王还是工蜂的关键环境因素,而蜂王浆主蛋白(main royal jelly proteins,MRJPs)是反映蜂王浆新鲜度的重要指标。日本镰仓昌树以蜜蜂和果蝇为模型的最新研究表明,MRJP1是蜂王浆中决定蜜蜂级型分化的关键因子,该蛋白可通过激活虫体脂肪体中的表皮生长因子信号通路,引发个体增大、发育时间缩短和卵巢发育等蜂王特征的出现。因此,今后很有必要进一步开展MRJP1对人体的营养功能和作用机理研究,为MRJP1应用于功能食品提供科学依据。     

Chemometric Classification of Comb and Cuticular Waxes of the Honeybee Apis Mellifera Carnica

Waxes are important as building material and for the chemical communication of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica. In this study chemometric tools were established for classifying the different waxes inside the hive. By using gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry, components of different types of waxes were analyzed. By considering different substance classes of waxes, discriminant function analyses revealed distinct subtypes of comb waxes and of cuticular waxes. It is shown that the aging of comb wax is in part a spontaneous physicochemical process due to differential volatilities of compound classes with different chain length ranges. On the other hand it is directly influenced by the bees by adding lipolytic enzymes to the comb wax. The data suggest that the varying cuticular wax and comb wax compositions could serve as cues for bees to recognize castes, sexes, or comb age.     

Eclectic chemisociality of the honeybee

A dazzling variety of honeybee behaviors are triggered by pheromones produced by disparate exocrine glands. A multiplicity of chemical releasers of social behavior has been demonstrated to regulate a diversity of societal interactions, and many of these compounds are synthesized with great caste specificity. Recent investigations have resulted in the identification of a host of new compounds that are products of either worker or queen honeybees. This report fractionates these newly identified exocrine products according to their glandular proveniences and focuses on both the structural and behavioral eclecticism that characterizes these chemical signaling agents.     

Isolation of 24-methylenecholesterol-derived oxidation products from queen honeybee ovaries (Apis mellifica L.)

The bioecological situation of 24-methylenecholesterol, the main sterol of many pollens and previously isolated from larvae, workers, and queens of the honeybeeApis mellifica L., is reviewed. A search for steroids in queen honeybee ovaries has led to the isolation of three compounds occurring in minute amounts: 24-methylenecholest-4-en-3-one (1), 24-oxochoiesterol (2), and 24-oxocholest-4-en-3-one (3), which were identified by direct comparison with authentic samples prepared from 24-methyienechoiesterol. These three substances have not been detected in lipids from other parts of queen or from worker honeybees, and their presence may reflect a particular oxidizing capability of the ovaries. The results so far observed are discussed in relationship with previous observations reported on honeybees.     

Can social bees be influenced to choose a specific feeding station by adding the scent of the station to the hive air?

The behavioral response of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) and bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) to the flower volatiles 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and myrcene isolated in situ from white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and oil seed rape (Brassica napus oleifera), respectively, were investigated on a rotating arena with 12 visually identical, but differently scented, feeding stations. When locating a feeding station, neutral in both shape and color, foragers used scent as orientation cue. Introduction of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol to the honeybee hives induced significantly more visits to sites containing this compound. In contrast, introduction of myrcene to the hives did not influence the foraging choices of honeybees significantly. No effect of hive scent composition on the choices made by bumblebees could be detected. Experienced bumble bees, i.e., bees with more than five visits to the feeding stations, tended to visit a particular position on the arena without discriminating between the two volatiles. In contrast, honeybees showed no positioning behavior on the arena, using primarily odoriferous stimuli. The observed influences of addition of scents to the hives are discussed in relation to the general knowledge on foraging behavior of social bees and the emission of volatiles from leaves and flowers.     

Semiochemical basis of infestation of honey bee brood byVarroa jacobsoni

Capping of workerApis mellifera cells is elicited by four fatty acid methyl esters (Methyl palmitate, methyl oleate, methyl linoleate, and methyl linolenate) that are present on the surface of the worker and drone larvae only a few hours before the cell is closed. The amount of the pheromone reaches its maximum value when the cell has just been capped, at 8.5 and at 10.25 days of age, respectively, for worker and drone larvae. Thereafter, the amount of the pheromone decreases to its initial level. These data suggest that the esters also have a role in the capping of the drone cells, the temporal signal allowing the worker bees to recognize the age of the larvae and then to do the appropriate behavior. Two pheromonal components, methyl palmitate and methyl linolenate, and the inactive ethyl palmitate are kairomones attractive toVarroa females. Their secretion by the larvae follows the same pattern of development as the pheromonal signal. The longer and greater kairomonal signal in drone larvae, compared to worker secretion, could explain the preference ofVarroa towards drone brood.     

Pheromone Communication in the Honeybee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis> L.)

Recent studies have demonstrated a remarkable and unexpected complexity in social insect pheromone communication, particularly for honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). The intricate interactions characteristic of social insects demand a complex language, based on specialized chemical signals that provide a syntax that is deeper in complexity and richer in nuance than previously imagined. Here, we discuss this rapidly evolving field for honeybees, the only social insect for which any primer pheromones have been identified. Novel research has demonstrated the importance of complexity, synergy, context, and dose, mediated through spatial and temporal pheromone distribution, and has revealed an unprecedented wealth of identified semiochemicals and functions. These new results demand fresh terminology, and we propose adding “colony pheromone” and “passenger pheromone” to the current terms sociochemical, releaser, and primer pheromone to better encompass our growing understanding of chemical communication in social insects.