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Encyclopedia > Pheromone (honey bee)
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Honey bee pheromones (Greek:“carrier of excitement”) are mixtures of chemical substances released by individual bees into the hive or environment that cause changes in the physiology and behaviour of other bees.

Contents


Introduction

Honeybees have one of the most complex pheromonal communication systems, possessing 15 known glands that produce an array of compounds (Free,1987; Blum, 1992). Pheromones are produced as a liquid and transmitted by direct contact as a liquid or as a vapor. Pheromones may be volatile or non-volatile. It has been suggested that Bombykol be merged into this article or section. ...


The pheromones are chemical messengers secreted by a queen, drone, worker bee or laying worker bee that elicit a response in other bees. The chemical messages are received by the bee's antenna and other body parts. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) pheromones can be grouped into releaser pheromones with short term effects and primer pheromones with long term effects. For the Queen bee in clique & social groups, see Clique. ... Drones are male honeybees. ... A worker bee is a female honeybee which performs certain tasks in support of a bee colony (bees within a beehive). ... Binomial name Apis mellifera The species called Western honeybees (Apis mellifera) are honeybees comprised of several subspecies or races. ...


Primer pheromones change the physiology of the recipient. Releaser pheromones change the behavior of the recipient. Releaser pheromones have a short term effect and they trigger an almost immediate behavioral response from the receiving bee. Under certain conditions a pheromone can act as both a releaser and primer pheromone.


Pheromones are NOT single chemicals, but rather a complex mixture of numerous chemicals in different percentages.

Source:

  • Imrie, George Georg Imrie's, Pink Pages Nov. 1999
  • Katzav-Gozansky, Tamar Apidologie 33 (2002) 525–537

Types of Honeybee Pheromones

Alarm pheromone

Alarm pheromone is released by the Koschevnikov gland, near the sting shaft, and consists of more than 40 chemical compounds, including isopentyl acetate (IPA), butyl acetate, 1-hexanol], 1-butanol, 1-octanol, hexyl acetate, octyl acetate, n-pentyl acetate and 2-nonanol. The chemical compounds have low molecular weights, are highly volatile and appear to be the least specific of all pheromones. Alarm pheromone is released by worker bees to alert other bees of danger and is released when a bee stings another animal. This pheromone attracts other bees to the location and causes the other bees to behave defensively, i.e. sting or charge. Smoke can mask the bees alarm pheromone. The Koschevnikov gland is a gland of the honeybee. ...


Brood recognition pheromone

One rarely finds evidence of a laying worker in a colony that still has live brood. Both larvae and pupae emit a "brood recognition" pheromone. This inhibits the ovarian development in worker bees and helps nurse bees distinguish worker larvae from drone larvae and pupae. Honey bee larvae produce a ten-component blend of fatty-acid esters called brood pheromone that modulates adult caste ratios and foraging ontogeny dependent on its concentration. The components of brood pheromone have been shown to vary by age.


Drone pheromone

Drones produce a pheromone that attracts other flying drones to promote drone aggregations at sites suitable for mating with virgin queens.


Egg marking pheromone

Helps nurse bees distinguish between eggs laid by the queen bee and eggs laid by a laying worker (see Dufour's Gland Secretions).


Footprint pheromone

This is left by the bee when it walks and is useful in enhancing Nasonov pheromones in searching for nectar.


In the queen, it is an oily secretion of the queen's tarsal glands that is deposited on the comb as she walks across it. This inhibits queen cell construction (thereby inhibiting swarming) and diminishes as the queen ages. The Meibomian glands (Glandulae tarsales) are a special kind of sebaceous glands at the rim of the eyelids, responsible for the supply of sebum, an oily substance that prevents evaporation of the eyes tear film. ...


Forager pheromone

Ethyl oleate is released by older forager bees to slow the maturing of nurse bees (Leoncini, 2004). This primer pheromone acts as a distributed regulator to keep the ratio of nurse bees to forager bees in the balance that is most beneficial to the hive. Colorless to light yellow liquid in the ethyl ester family of chemicals of fatty acids Molecular formula: C20 H38 O2 Molecular Weight: 310. ...


Nasonov pheromone

These are emitted by the worker bees and used for orientation. Fanning honeybee exposes Nasonov gland (white-at tip of abdomen) releasing pheromone to entice swarm into an empty hive Nasonov pheromone is released by worker bees to orient returning forager bees back to the colony. ... A worker bee is a female honeybee which performs certain tasks in support of a bee colony (bees within a beehive). ...


Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP)

QMP, emitted by the queen, is one of the most important pheromones in the bee hive. It affects social behaviour, maintenance of the hive, swarming, mating behaviour, and inhibition of ovary development in worker bees. The effects are short and long term. Some of the chemicals found in QMP are carboxylic acids and aromatic compounds. The following compounds have been shown to be important in retinue attraction of workers to their queen (Slessor, 1988) and other effects. This article is about swarms in biology. ... Human female internal reproductive anatomy Ovaries are a part of a female organism that produces eggs. ... A worker bee is a female honeybee which performs certain tasks in support of a bee colony (bees within a beehive). ... Structure of a carboxylic acid Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of a carboxyl group, which has the formula -C(=O)-OH, usually written as COOH. In general, the salts and anions of carboxylic acids are called carboxylates. ... The term aromatic compound may also refer to: any organic compound possessing a strong olfactory aroma aromatic hydrocarbons (originally named as a subset of the above; however, aromatic hydrocarbons do not necessarily possess any smell whatsoever) ...

  • (E)-9-oxodec-2-enoic acid (9-ODA) - inhibits queen rearing as well as ovarian development in worker bees; strong sexual attractant for drones when on a nuptial flight; critical to worker recognition of the presence of a queen in the hive
  • (R,E)-(-)-9-hydroxy-2-enoic acid (9-HDA) promotes stability of a swarm, or a "calming" influence
  • (S,E)-(+)-9-HDA
  • Methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate (HOB)
  • 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy phenylethanol (HVA)

Synthetic queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is a mixture of five components 9-ODA , (-) isomer (9-HDA), (+) isomer of (9-HDA), HOB and HVA in a ratio of 118:50:22:10:1.


Queen retinue pheromone (QRP)

The following compounds have also been identified (Keeling et al. 2003), of which only coniferyl alcohol is found in the mandibular glands. The combination of the 5 QMP compounds and the 4 compounds below is called the Queen Retinue Pheromone (QRP). These nine compounds are important for the retinue attraction of worker bees around their queen.

  • methyl (Z)-octadec-9-enoate (methyl oleate)
  • (E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-ol (coniferyl alcohol)
  • hexadecan-1-ol
  • (Z9,Z12,Z15)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acid (linolenic acid)

Linolenic acid is an 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid with three double bonds. ...

Tergite gland pheromone

Tarsal (Arnhart) gland pheromone

Dufour's gland pheromone

The Dufour’s gland opens into the dorsal vaginal wall. Dufour’s gland and its secretion have been somewhat of a mystery. The gland secretes its alkaline products in to the vaginal cavity, and it has been assumed to be deposited on the eggs as they are laid. Indeed, Dufour’s secretions allow worker bees to distinguish between eggs laid by the queen, which are attractive, and those laid by workers. The complex of as many as 24 chemicals differs between workers in queen-right colonies and workers of queenless colonies. In the latter, the workers’ Dufour secretions are similar to those of a healthy queen. The secretions from workers of queenright colonies are long-chain alkanes with odd numbers of carbon atoms, but those of egg-laying queens and egg-laying workers of queenless colonies also include long chain esters. (Source Katzav-Gozansky, T., V. Soroker, and A. Hefetz. 2002. Honeybees Dufour's gland - idiosyncracy of a new queen signal. Apidologie 33: 525 - 537. Submitted by P. Kevan. 21:27, 18 December 2005 (UTC)


Rectal gland pheromone

Wax gland and comb pheromone

Laying worker pheromone

References listed alphabetically by author

  • Boch, R. and D.A. Shearer. 1971. Chemical releasers of alarm behaviour on the honey-bee, Apis mellifera. Journal of Insect Physiology 17, 2277-2285
  • Butler, C. 1609. The Feminine Monarchie. On a Treatise Concerning Bees, and the Due Ordering of them. Joseph Barnes: Oxford.
  • Imrie, George George Imrie's Pink Pages November 1999 accessed Feb. 2005
  • Keeling, C. I., Slessor, K. N., Higo, H. A. and Winston, M. L. (2003) Isolation and identification of new components of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen retinue pheromone. Proc National Academy of Science USA 100: 4486-4491.
  • Leoncini, I., Le Conte, Y., Costagliola, G., Plettner, E., Toth, A. L., Wang, M., Huang, Z., Bécard, J.-M., Crauser, D., Slessor, K. N. and Robinson, G. E. (2004) Regulation of behavioral maturation by a primer pheromone produced by adult worker honey bees. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 17559-17564.
  • Maschwitz, U., 1964. Alarm substances and alarm behavior in social Hymenoptera, Nature 204, 324-327.
  • Moritz, R.F.A. and H. Burgin. 1987. Group response to alarm pheromones in socialwasps and the honeybees. Ethology 76, 15-26
  • Slessor, K. N., Kaminski, L.-A., King, G. G. S., Borden, J. H. and Winston, M. L. (1988) Semiochemical basis of the retinue response to queen honey bees. Nature 332: 354-356.
  • Vander Meer, R.K. et al. 1998. Pheromone Communication in Social Insects; Boulder: Westview Press
  • Wager, B.R. and M.D. Breed. 2000. Does honeybee sting alarm pheromone give orientation information to defensive bees? Annals of the Entomological Society of America 93(6), 1329-1332

  Results from FactBites:
 
Pheromone - The Encyclopedia (1119 words)
Insect pheromones of pest species, such as the Japanese beetle and the gypsy moth, can be used to trap them for monitoring purposes or for control by creating confusion, disrupting mating and preventing them from laying eggs.
In mammals and reptiles, pheromones may be detected by the vomeronasal organ, or Jacobson's organ, which lies between the nose and mouth, although some are detected by regular olfactory membranes.
Boar pheromones are sprayed into the sty, and those sows which exhibit sexual arousal are known to be currently available for breeding.
Entomology - UC Riverside Take-Out Bee Traps (3672 words)
The problem of straggler bees can be solved by transporting the hive only at night after the bees have settled, by spraying them at night when all the bees are likely to be on the swarm cluster, or by returning to the site at night, locating the clustered stragglers and repeating the insecticide application.
Bees were attracted to the traps by the pheromone, but then relatively few entered the entrances, often going part way in and then back out.
Bees discovered and entered the traps most quickly when they were close to the original site of the swarm, but were able to find traps at least 35 m away, though the rate of bee arrival at 35 m was less than at 5 m (Fig.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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