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Seasonal patterns of brood rearing and worker longevity in colonies of Africanized honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in South America.

1980; Kansas (Central States) Entomological Society; Volume: 53; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1937-2353

Mark L. Winston,

Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

Seasonal patterns of brood rearing, swarming and absconding, nectar and pollen storage, and worker longevity are described for Africanized honey bee colonies in French Guiana, South America. During the wet season, colonies show diminished brood rearing, slightly higher mean worker longevity, no swarming and a higher probability of absconding, and a shift in colony age structure towards older bees. These demographic responses to the dearth season are considerably less pronounced than those known for other races under temperate and subtropical conditions during the non-foraging period, and observations suggest that dif ferences between races may be at least partly genetic. These results have important implications for the rate of spread of Africanized honey bees in South America. In temperate and subtropical climates, conditions result in dra matic changes in honey bee (Apis mellifera) biology. Brood rearing and foraging are severely curtailed or stopped (Nolan, 1925, 1928; Bodenheimer and Ben-Nerya, 1937; Bodenheimer, 1937; Maurizio, 1950; Gontarski, 1953; Hassanein and El-Banby, 1960), adult longevity rises (Fukuda and Sekigu chi, 1966, and references cited therein), and workers and the queen are quiescent, forming a cluster which obtains energy to generate heat from honey stores. For wet tropical areas, winter conditions are related to rainfall rather than temperature, with periods of severe rainfall being periods of reduced resource availability. The biology of honey bees under these conditions has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of brood rearing and adult worker longevity in persisting colonies of African ized bees during the wet season in French Guiana, South America, and to compare such data to those for other races of honey bees under temperate or subtropical conditions.