Gramacho K P, Gonçalves L S
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia de Salvador, Salvador, BA, Brasil.
Genet Mol Res. 2009 Jun 30;8(2):744-50. doi: 10.4238/vol8-2kerr041.
In Apis mellifera, hygienic behavior involves recognition and removal of sick, damaged or dead brood from capped cells. We investigated whether bees react in the same way to grouped versus isolated damaged capped brood cells. Three colonies of wild-type Africanized honey bees and three colonies of Carniolan honey bees were used for this investigation. Capped worker brood cells aged 12 to 14 days old were perforated with the pin-killing method. After making holes in the brood cells, the combs were placed back into the hives; 24 h later the number of cleaned cells was recorded in areas with pin-killed and control brood cells. Four repetitions were made in each colony. Isolated cells were more frequently cleaned than grouped cells, though variance analysis showed no significant difference (P = 0.1421). Carniolan bees also were somewhat, though not significantly more hygienic than Africanized honey bees (P = 0.0840). We conclude that honey bees can detect and remove both isolated and grouped dead brood. The tendency towards greater hygienic efficiency directed towards grouped pin-killed brood may be a consequence of a greater concentration of volatiles emanating from the wounds in the dead pupae.
在西方蜜蜂中，卫生行为包括识别并清除封盖巢房中患病、受损或死亡的幼虫。我们研究了蜜蜂对成组与单个受损封盖幼虫巢房的反应是否相同。本研究使用了三群野生型非洲化蜜蜂和三群喀尼阿兰蜜蜂。采用针刺致毙法对12至14日龄的封盖工蜂幼虫巢房进行穿孔。在巢房打孔后，将巢脾放回蜂箱；24小时后，记录针刺致毙幼虫巢房区域和对照幼虫巢房区域中被清理巢房的数量。每个蜂群进行了四次重复实验。单个巢房比成组巢房更常被清理，不过方差分析显示差异不显著（P = 0.1421）。喀尼阿兰蜜蜂在卫生方面也略胜一筹，尽管与非洲化蜜蜂相比差异不显著（P = 0.0840）。我们得出结论，蜜蜂能够检测并清除单个和成组的死亡幼虫。对成组针刺致毙幼虫表现出更高卫生效率的倾向，可能是由于死亡蛹体伤口散发的挥发物浓度更高所致。
