Abstract
The visitation pattern by worker honey bees to cells in the brood nest was monitored on an artificially created brood pattern consisting of about one-fourth brood cells evenly distributed among empty cells. The majority (63 %) of the observed workers selectively entered larval cells. In contrast, some workers avoided egg cells when presented a choice of egg vs empty cells. The results suggest that larvae produce a general signal indicating their presence to worker bees. Eggs also seem to produce a signal, which is perceived to be different from the one from larvae.
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Huang, ZY., Otis, G.W. Nonrandom visitation of brood cells by worker honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J Insect Behav 4, 177–184 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054610
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054610