The natural history of nest defence in a stingless bee, tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with two distinct types of entrance guards

Neotropical Entomology

Volumn 40, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 55-61

  Gruter C ^a   Karcher M H ^a   Ratnieks, F L W ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Division of labour; Guarding behaviour; Jata ; Meliponini

Indexed keywords

ANIMAL; ARTICLE; BEE; NESTING; PHYSIOLOGY;

ANIMALS; BEES; NESTING BEHAVIOR;

ANGUSTULA; APIDAE; APIS MELLIFERA; APOIDEA; HYMENOPTERA; MELIPONINAE; TETRAGONISCA ANGUSTULA; VERTEBRATA;

EID: 79952911320     PISSN: 1519566X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1590/S1519-566X2011000100008     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Bowden RM, Garry MF, Breed MD (1994) Discrimination of con-and heterospecific bees by Trigona (Tetragonisca) angustula guards. J Kans Entomol Soc 67: 137-139.
2. Breed MD, Page RE (1991) Intra-and interspecific nestmate recognition in Melipona workers (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J Insect Behav 4: 463-469.
3. Butler CG, Free JB (1952) The behaviour of worker honeybees at the hive entrance. Behaviour 4: 263-291.
4. Conner J, Camazine S, Aneshansley D, Eisner T (1985) Mammalian breath: trigger of defensive chemical response in a tenebrionid beetle (Bolitotherus cornutus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 16: 115-118.
5. Couvillon MJ, Ratnieks FLW (2008) Odour transfer in stingless bee marmelada (Frieseomelitta varia) demonstrates that entrance guards use an "undesirable-absent" recognition system. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62: 1099-1105.
6. Crawley MJ (2002) Statistical computing: an introduction to data analysis using S-Plus. Chichester, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltda.
7. DeGrandi-Hoffman G, Collins A, Martin JH, Schmidt JO, Spangler G (1998) Nest defense behavior in colonies from crosses between Africanized and European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J Insect Behav 11: 37-45.
8. De Jong D (1990) Insects: Hymenoptera (ants, wasps, and bees), p.135-155. In Morse R A, Nowogrodzki R (eds) Honey bee pests, predators, and diseases. Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 474p.
9. Downs SG, Ratnieks FLW (1999) Recognition of conspecifics by honey bee guards uses nonheritable cues acquired in the adult stage. Anim Behav 58: 643-648.
10. Downs SG, Ratnieks FLW (2000) Adaptive shifts in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) guarding behavior support predictions of the acceptance threshold model. Behav Ecol 11: 326-333.
11. Grosso AF, Bego LR (2002) Labor division, average life span, survival curve, and nest architecture of Tetragonisca angustula angustula (Hymenoptera, Apinae, Meliponini). Sociobiology 40: 615-637.
12. Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (2009) The Superorganism: The beauty, elegance, and strangeness of insect societies. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 522p.
13. Hunt GJ, Guzmán-Novoa E, Uribe-Rubio JL, Prieto-Merlos D (2003) Genotype-environment interactions in honeybee guarding behaviour. Anim Behav 66: 459-467.
14. Jeanne RL (1986) The organization of work in Polybia occidentalis: costs and benefits of specialization in a social wasp. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 19: 333-341.
15. Kajobe R, Roubik DW (2006) Honey-making bee colony abundance and predation by apes and humans in a Uganda forest reserve. Biotropica 38: 210-218.
16. Kärcher MH, Ratnieks FLW (2009) Standing and hovering guards of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula complement each other in entrance guarding and intruder recognition. J Apic Res 48: 209-214.
17. Kelber A, Zeil J (1997) Tetragonisca guard bees interpret expanding and contracting patterns as unintended displacement in space. J Comp Physiol A Sens Neural Behav Physiol 181: 257-265.
18. Michener CD (1974) The social behavior of the bees, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 404p.
19. Michener CD (2007) The bees of the world. Baltimore, The John Hopkins University Press, 953p.
20. Moore AJ, Breed MD, Moor MJ (1987) The guard honey bee: ontogeny and behavioural variability of workers performing a specialized task. Anim Behav 35: 1159-1167.
21. Morse RA, Nowogrodzki R (1990) Honey bee pests, predators, and diseases. Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press, 474p.
22. R Development Core Team (2008) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
23. Ratnieks FLW, Anderson C (1999) Task partitioning in insect societies. Insectes Soc 46: 95-108.
24. Roubik DW (1989) Ecology and natural history of tropical bees. New York, Cambridge University Press, 514p.
25. Tofilski A, Couvillon MJ, Evison S, Helanterä H, Robinson EJH, Ratnieks FLW (2008) Pre-emptive defensive self-sacrifice by ant workers. Am Nat 172: E239-E243.
26. Van Veen JW, Sommeijer MJ (2000) Colony reproduction in Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae, Meliponini). Insectes Soc 47: 70-75.
27. Wilson EO (1971) The insect societies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 548p.
28. Winston ML (1987) The biology of the honey bee, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 281p.
29. Wittmann D (1985) Aerial defense of the nest by workers of the stingless bee Trigona (Tetragonisca) angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 16: 111-114.
30. Wittmann D, Ratke R, Zeil J, Lübke G, Francke W (1990) Robber bees (Lestrimelitta limao) and their host chemical and visual cues in nest defence by Trigona (Tetragonisca) angustula (Apidae: Meliponinae). J Chem Ecol 16: 631-641.