Worker policing and worker reproduction in Apis cerana

By Benjamin P. Oldroyd, L. Halling, G. Good, W. Wattanachaiyingcharoen, Andrew B. Barron, Piyamas Nanork, S. Wongsiri, Francis L. W. Ratnieks. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2001

102 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. Workers of the Asian hive bee, Apis cerana, are shown to have relatively high rates of worker ovary activation. In colonies with an active queen and brood nest, 1–5% of workers have eggs in their ovarioles. When A. cerana colonies are dequeened, workers rapidly activate their ovaries. After 4 days 15% have activated ovaries and after 6 days, 40%. A cerana police worker-laid eggs in the same way that A. florea and A. mellifera do, but are perhaps slightly more tolerant of worker-laid eggs than the other species. Nevertheless, no worker's sons were detected in a sample of 652 pupal males sampled from 4 queenright colonies. A cerana continue to police worker-laid eggs, even after worker oviposition has commenced in a queenless colony.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7ea594678e35131a5acea37dab64e18227ec53fd

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Citations in the corpus

Conflict resolution in insect societies. (2006, background): “Lack of worker power is strongly suggested in slave-making ants, as brood rearing is carried out by allospecific slaves and allocation ratios are close to 50% female (14, 80, 125).”
Ovariole number—a predictor of differential reproductive success among worker subfamilies in queenless honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies (2006, background): “Enhanced fertility in some patrilines could involve a physiological component that allows faster activation of the ovaries (Page and Robinson 1994; Oldroyd et al. 2001; Martin et al. 2002).”
Worker reproduction in honey-bees (Apis) and the anarchic syndrome: a review (2001, background): “Ovary activation is more common among A. cerana workers: up to 5% of workers have eggs in their ovaries ( Oldroyd et al. 2001 ).”