ISSN:
1420-9098
Keywords:
Key words: Stingless bees, T. angustula, cell production, worker-oviposition, trophic eggs, egg-replacement, queen dominance.
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary: In the stingless bee Trigona (Tetragonisca) angustula Illiger the oviposition activities and interactions of the queen and the workers were analysed for their effect on the availability of broodcells for worker-oviposition. In stingless bees the rearing of new individuals starts when workers fill a broodcell with liquid larval food (mass-provisioning), upon which the queen lays an egg. The sequence of mass-provisioning and egg-laying is called the provisioning and oviposition process or “POP”. Observations showed that in T. angustula the provisioning of individual cells and subsequent oviposition by the queen occurred singly or in batches. Prior to the queen's oviposition, workers oviposited in some of the cells involved in the POP and those worker-eggs were generally consumed by the queen. There was no direct relationship between the oviposition frequencies of the queen and workers. Both every extra cell in a batch and every worker-oviposition add a few seconds to the duration of POP because a queen needs time to oviposit one cell after the other and to consume a worker-egg. These results and an experiment in which the queen's oviposition was delayed show that it is the availability of filled cells that determines the probability of worker-oviposition. Continuous observation of the oviposition activity for several days revealed that the successive building of combs caused a cyclic change in the production rate of newly closed cells.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s000400050044
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