Cnaani J, Hefetz A
USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, 2000 E. Allen Road, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
Naturwissenschaften. 2001 Feb;88(2):85-7. doi: 10.1007/s001140000202.
In the social bee, Bombus terrestris, the two castes differ in size and physiology, but not in any other morphological and anatomical aspects. The size differences between the castes are the result of longer instar duration in prospective queen larvae. It appears that queen larvae are programmed to have a higher molting weight at the end of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th instars. Calculation of the growth ratio, the ratio between the logarithm of molting weight at two successive instars, revealed that queen larvae have a linear growth ratio over the entire larval development as predicted by Dyar's rule. In the worker larvae, in contrast, linearity of the growth ratio breaks after the second instar, resulting in larval molting at lower weights than expected by Dyar's rule. We therefore suggest that workers' development is abnormally shortened, either by parental manipulation or by adopting a different growth plan in response to the queen's signal.
在群居蜜蜂地熊蜂中，两种蜂型在大小和生理方面存在差异，但在任何其他形态学和解剖学方面并无不同。蜂型之间的大小差异是由于未来蜂王幼虫的龄期持续时间更长。似乎蜂王幼虫在第二、第三和第四龄期结束时被设定为具有更高的蜕皮重量。通过计算生长比率，即两个连续龄期的蜕皮重量对数之间的比率，发现蜂王幼虫在整个幼虫发育过程中具有如戴尔法则所预测的线性生长比率。相比之下，在工蜂幼虫中，生长比率的线性在第二龄期之后中断，导致幼虫蜕皮时的重量低于戴尔法则预期的重量。因此，我们认为工蜂的发育要么是通过亲代操纵，要么是通过响应蜂王信号采用不同的生长计划而异常缩短。
