The Natural History of Nest Defence in a Stingless Bee, Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with Two Distinct Types of Entrance Guards
The Natural History of Nest Defence in a Stingless Bee, Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with Two Distinct Types of Entrance Guards
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DOI：
10.1590/s1519-566x2011000100008
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发表时间：
2011-02-01
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Ratnieks, FLW
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Grüter, C;Kärcher, MH;Ratnieks, FLW
无刺蜜蜂 Tetragonsica angustula (Latreille) 是已知的唯一具有两种不同类型巢穴入口防护装置的群居蜜蜂。与其他无刺蜜蜂和蜜蜂一样，其中一种蜜蜂站立在巢穴入口处、巢穴入口处或巢穴入口附近。第二种类型目前仅在狭角狨中发现，盘旋在巢穴入口附近。为了进一步了解这种独特的情况，我们研究了两种类型的守卫的守卫行为。通过使用标记的蜜蜂，我们发现工蜂个体的守卫时间较长，可达 20 天，而它们的平均守卫时间较短。 21天，寿命。相对较少（33%）的单独标记的警卫同时进行这两种类型的防护。其他人只是充当站岗警卫的角色。确实执行这两种类型的蜜蜂在其生命的相似时期都这样做。悬停时间为 57 分钟，中间有几分钟在蜂巢内休息的时间（3.3 +/- 1.5 分钟）。站立回合的时间稍长（74 分钟），并且也会被短暂的休息中断（7.82 +/- 6.45 分钟）。人类的呼吸模仿脊椎动物的入侵者，导致守卫者撤退到巢穴中，而不是攻击入侵者。一些蜂群通过在夜间关闭入口来保护自己免受入侵者的侵害（32% 和 56% 的蜂群在两个晚上关闭入口）。总而言之，我们的结果表明，狭角玳瑁的巢穴入口守卫涉及两种类型之间的分工，其中大多数守卫个体仅充当常备守卫。
The stingless bee Tetragonsica angustula (Latreille) is the only social bee known that has two different types of nest entrance guards. As in other stingless bees and the honey bee one type stands on, in or near the nest entrance. The second type, so far only known in T. angustula, hovers near the nest entrance. In order to gain further understanding of this unique situation we studied guarding behaviour in both types of guards. Using marked bees, we found that individual worker bees guarded for a long time, up to 20 days, relative to their short, average c. 21 day, lifespan. Relatively few, 33%, individually marked guards were seen performing both types of guarding. The others only acted as standing guards. The bees that did perform both types did so over similar periods of their life. Hovering bouts were 57 min long, interrupted by breaks inside the hive of a few minutes (3.3 +/- 1.5 min). Standing bouts were slightly longer (74 min) and also interrupted by short breaks (7.82 +/- 6.45 min). Human breath, mimicking a vertebrate intruder, caused the guards to retreat into the nest rather than to attack the intruder. Some colonies protected themselves against intruders by closing the entrance during the night (32% and 56% of colonies during two nights). In summary, our results indicate that nest entrance guarding in T. angustula involves division of labour between the two types, in which most guarding individuals only act as standing guards.