Pheromone Basics and Importance in the Colony#
1 . Can queen pheromone be recognized and reproduced artificially?
Queen pheromone is produced in the mandibular gland of the queen and has 17 components, 5 of which are critical. The most important is 9 ODA (9-Oxy-decenoic acid). Yes, queen pheromone can be manufactured as Qeq (queen equivalent) or QMP (queen mandibular pheromone). It can be used to stabilize a queenless colony or delay swarming in a colony. Queen pheromone is dispersed all over the queen’s body and dispersed into the hive when worker bees groom the queen and is dispersed from one worker to another. The amount of 9 ODA that the queen produces is a function of queen age rather than mating or egg laying status. Levels of 9 ODA decline in older queens which may trigger supersedure. When the queen is removed from the hive the workers become “nervous” and begin queen replacement behavior within minutes to hours of her absence.
2 . What are the functions of Queen Substance (pheromone)?
Inhibits rearing of replacement queens
Swarm stabilization
Sex attraction
Queen retinue behavior
Stimulation of foraging and brood rearing
Suppresses worker bee ovaries (actually, worker ovaries may be suppressed by tergite glands and brood pheromone instead of queen pheromone)
3 . How is queen substance important in food sharing and what is the result in a starving colony?
Workers pass queen substance on to other bees in the colony during food sharing. Food sharing keeps all the bees in a colony supplied with carbohydrates. Bees share food equally, so when the food is gone, and there is nothing more to share, all the bees die simultaneously, and the hive collapses.
4 . How many alarm pheromones do honey bees have and what do they smell like?
Honey bees have 2 different alarm pheromones. One from the mandibular gland of workers and one from the glands of the sting apparatus (Dufour’s and Koschevnikov glands). Alarm pheromone smells like banana oil.
5 . What is unique about the worker honey bee sting?
The sting apparatus has a strongly barbed stinger. The sting gland releases an odor that marks the enemy for up to 5 minutes so her sister workers can find and attack the enemy. Some wasps have barbs on their stingers but lack the alarm chemicals. Vision is required for bees to sting. Heat and humidity can enhance the alarm pheromone and the sting.
6 . Does the bee have to sting to release alarm pheromone?
No, alarm pheromone (and a drop of venom) may be released by guard bees extending the stinger in the direction of a threat without stinging. She fans her wings to circulate the alarm pheromone. This action recruits other bees to come to the defense of the hive.
7 . Why do we use smoke when we enter a hive?
Alarm pheromone and defensive behavior occurs with the release of sting pheromone, isopentyl (or isoamyl) acetate. Smoke helps to mask the this pheromone. Africanized honey bees have a lower threshold for the alarm pheromone which is why they become more aggressive when threatened. Queen bees do not have a barbed stinger and do not produce isopentyl acetate.