6.4 Pheremones

Question 1

Define a pheremone

Answer 1

A chemcial susbtance or blend of substances secreted by an animal to the outside that affects the phsyiology of other animals of the same species, reslulting in a specific reaction which may be behavioural, developmental or physiological.

Question 2

Define primer pheremone

Answer 2

These trigger complex and long-term (often irreversible) responses in the receiver, generate development, behavooural and physiological changes

Question 3

Define releaser pheremone

Answer 3

These stimulate an immediate behaviour response

Question 4

Why do honey bees use pheremones in an evoloutionary perspective?

Answer 4

The enclosed nest space favours airbone volatiles for transfer of information due to windless environment with cossitnet temeprature (pheremone stability)

Question 5

What role does Queen mandibular pheremone have?

Answer 5

• Helps retinue formation and swarm cohesion
• Attracts drones during mating flights
• Supresses queen rearing, supersedure, and swarming
• Supresses worker ovaries activating
• Supresses JH which regulates temporal polyetheism.
• Somewhat encourages foraging and brood rearing
• Notable components: 9-ODA & 9-HAD
• Attracts drones long range in DCAs
• “The queen is here” signal
• Not really volatile so mainly spread by messenger bees.

Question 6

What role does the worker mandibular pheremone have?

Answer 6

otable components: 10-HAD & 10-HDAA
• When queenless, it will emit 9-ODA and inhibit other workers developing ovaries
• 2-heptanone is produced when workers are older which is a released alarm pheromone (repels intruders)
• 2-hepatonone is also a local anaesthetic which can immobilise the intruder

Question 7

What are another name for the tergal glands?

Answer 7

Renner-Baumann

Question 8

What role does tergal pheremone have from the queen?

Answer 8

• Supports QMP function
• Short range attraction in DCAs (around 30cm)
• Useful in queen recognition when duelling is occurring
• Retinue formation

Question 9

What is the name of the gland which footprint pheremone comes from?

Answer 9

Tarsal glands/ Arnhart’s gland

Question 10

What role does queen footprint pheremone have?

Answer 10

• Oily, low volatile substance
• Inhibited queen cup construction (hence why they are found away from brood nest)

Question 11

What role does worker footprint pheremone have?

Answer 11

• Marks the hive entrance and food sources
• A short-range version of the Nasanov pheromone (but more persistent)

Question 12

What role does the queen’s Dufour’s pheremone have?

Answer 12

• Fertility signal  its composition varies depending on if she is mated, unmated, or mated poorly
• Potential egg laying pheromone?
• Inhibit worker ovary activation

Question 13

What role does the workers Dufour’s pheremone have?

Answer 13

• Becomes more like queen profile when they start laying

Question 14

What role does the Koschevnikov gland in the queen do?

Answer 14

• Part of the queen signal

Question 15

What role does the Koschevnikov gland in the worker do?

Answer 15

• Produces alarm pheromone (when stinger used)
• Highly volatile (effect is short lived because of this)
• Notable component: isopentyl acetate

Question 16

What does the nasanov pheremone do in the workers?

Answer 16

• Marks the hive entrance (especially during orientation flights and finding a new nest)
• Marking of foraging sources (mainly water sources or when nectar reward is high)
• Swarm cluster cohesion (along with QMP)
• Could possibly be used to identify young larvae to select for queen rearing
• Notable components: geraniol (one of 7 of the components, if all 7 aren’t present then it isn’t as effective)
• The “Come hither” pheromone

Question 17

What pheremones do the queen have?

Answer 17

Manibular, tergal, footprint, Dufour’s, Koschevnikov,

Question 18

What pheremones do the workers have?

Answer 18

Manibular, tergal, footprint, Dufour’s, Koschevnikov, Nasanov,

Question 19

What does brood ester pheremone do?

Answer 19

• Coats the cuticle and is not very volatile.
• Communicates the age, gender and condition of the larvae  thus telling workers what food to give it
• Delays transition from nurse to forager
• Stimulates cell capping and cell cleaning
• Causes vitellogenin transport to go to hypop glands rather than workers ovaries.

Question 20

What gland produces brood ester pheremone and E-Beta-ocimene?

Answer 20

Larval salivary gland

Question 21

What does E-Beta-ocimene do?

Answer 21

• Inhibit worker ovary development
• Enhances brood care commitment
• Works antagonistically against BEP to speed up worker transition

Question 22

How do brood pheremones regular worker behaviour?

Answer 22

Pheremones produced by young larvae encourage foraging behaviour to support larval nutrition. Older larvae emitphermones that enhance the nursing phase of workers to help hypophangeal gland development to produce jelly for feeding larvae. Certain esters within the pheremones induce cell capping.

Question 23

What is Colin Butler famous for?

Answer 23

Discovered QMP in the 1950s which he called Queen Substance. He found that 9-ODA was within queen substance and it inhibited queen raising and helped with cohesion. His colleages at Rothamsted also created swarm lures using synthetic nasanov gland pheremone.

Question 24

What was John Free famous for?

Answer 24

Published “The Social Organisation of Honeybees” in 1977, and also “Pheremones of Social Bees” in 19787. These were great books on queen pheremones that helped design effective queen rearing methods.