Analysis of queen recognition by honey bee workers (Apis mellifera L.) in a metabolic bio-assay.

Queenless groups of honey bee workers (Apis mellifera L.) respond with typical increases in their metabolic activity when exposed to queens. Volatile queen odors release 46.8% of the reaction in worker groups compared to combinations of volatile odors and non-volatile factors. Worker groups which were allowed to learn the odor of a given queen were able to discriminate between volatile odors of related and unrelated queens. Although non-volatile queen compounds seem to be of minor importance for kin recognition they override effects releasable by volatile odors.