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Respostas de colônias de Plebeia catamarcensis Holmberg (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponina) à orfandade

2010; UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1679-2343

O. C. de Pinho, José Benedito Perrella Balestieri, Fátima Cristina de Lazari Manente Balestieri,

Insect and Pesticide Research

Behaviour studies were carried out in eight orphanage colonies of Plebeia catamarcensis. Of these eight, in six colonies, the emergence of a queen was registered and, in four out of these six, the establishment process of a queen was successful. The recently emerged queen is very attractive and active. She moves around the colony calling other individuals’ attention and creating a buzz in the nest. The individuals in the nest leave their routine activities behind and turn their attention to the new queen. The workers surround the queen and start to attack her with their antenna and legs mainly in the abdominal area. From this moment on, the queen can have two destinies: she is either killed by the worker bees which surround her or accepted into the hive. In all four observed acceptances, the queens were only accepted after the 28th day of orphanhood. The queens which emerged before this period were killed by the worker bees. The behaviour of worker was also observed as they were responsible for building a royal chamber and scattered brood cells.