Production of Queens, Workers and Males in the Stingless Bee Melipona Favosa (Apidae: Meliponinae): Patterns in Time and Space

Author: Koedam, D.

Source: Netherlands Journal of Zoology, Volume 49, Number 4, 1999 , pp. 289-302(14)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

Patterns in the production of queens, workers and males were investigated in colonies of the monogynous stingless bee Melipona favosa. Numbers of newly closed brood cells were daily registered for over four months. After pupation, the cells were opened to determine the sex and caste of the brood. Queens and males comprised a quarter of all the brood and were produced continuously, although in fluctuating numbers. In general, four to five days after a change in the production of the number of queens, the production of males showed a change in the same direction. Male-producing eggs were generally laid in cells located in the centre of combs. In the combs, cells from which queens eclosed were occasionally clustered in a way which significantly deviated from a random distribution pattern. In Melipona bees optimal food conditions are assumed to promote the transformation of queen-potent larvae into queens. The findings from this study show that these conditions in M. favosa almost simultaneously promote the laying of male-producing eggs. The occurrence of typical clusterings of queen-holding cells in combs indicate that the current theory about caste determination in Melipona needs refinement with respect to the regulation of the phenotypic determination of queens.

Keywords: stingless bees; Melipona favosa; queen production; male production; phenotypic queen determination

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156854299X00209

Affiliations: 1: Laboratório de Abelhas, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Travessa 14, No. 321, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Publication date: 1999-01-01

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