Honeybee dance communication

✍ Scribed by W. H. Kirchner; M. Lindauer; A. Michelsen

• Book ID: 104742435
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 183 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0028-1042
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00366482

✦ Synopsis

4, 5], we examined whether this kind of rhythm might be reflected in the wax secretion itself. Twelve-day-old bees in queenright and broodright colonies were allowed to secrete wax for 12 h. One lot was captured at 06:00 h, stripped of wax scales, returned to the hives and recaptured at 18:00 h; for a second lot, the experiment began at 18:00 h and ended at 06:00 h. In the daytime experiment, the bees secreted wax at the rate of 4.1 + 7.4 ~g per bee h -1, while at night the rate was 3.9 +_ 1.4/zg per bee h-1, means which were not significantly different (n = 6 for each group). Thus we conclude, within the limits of the experiments, that wax secretion is essentially a continuous process that occurs within the unique thermal microenvironment of the festoon aided by abdominal thermoregulation.