Summary:
In stingless bees the Provisioning and Oviposition Process (POP) is quite complicated, involving several interactions between queen and workers. Plebeia remota nests typically stop cell construction and oviposition in fall and winter. However, little is known about the phenomenon. In order to investigate the role of queen and workers in the starting of cell construction after this interruption of activity, 9 pairs of P. remota colonies were used. Queens of active colonies were placed into inactive colonies and vice versa. The results showed that workers control brood cell construction in this colony phase. The queen seems to have little or no influence on this decision.
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Received 8 March 2001; revised 28 August 2001; accepted 15 October 2001.
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de F. Ribeiro, M. Does the queen of Plebeia remota (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) stimulate her workers to start brood cell construction after winter?. Insectes soc. 49, 38–40 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-002-8276-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-002-8276-0