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The reproductive dilemmas of queenless red dwarf honeybee (Apis florea) workers

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Abstract

Honeybee (Apis) workers cannot mate, but retain functional ovaries. When colonies have lost their queen, many young workers begin to activate their ovaries and lay eggs. Some of these eggs are reared, but most are not and are presumably eaten by other workers (worker policing). Here we explore some of the factors affecting the reproductive success of queenless workers of the red dwarf honeybee Apis florea. Over a 2-year period we collected 40 wild colonies and removed their queens. Only two colonies remained at their translocated site long enough to rear males to pupation while all the others absconded. Absconding usually occurred after worker policing had ceased, as evidenced by the appearance of larvae. Dissections of workers from eight colonies showed that in A. florea, 6% of workers have activated ovaries after 4 days of queenlessness, and that 33% of workers have activated ovaries after 3 weeks. Worker-laid eggs may appear in nests within 4 days and larvae soon after, but this is highly variable. As with Apis mellifera, we found evidence of unequal reproductive success among queenless workers of A. florea. In the two colonies that reared males to pupation and which we studied with microsatellites, some subfamilies had much higher proportions of workers with activated ovaries than others. The significance of absconding and internest reproductive parasitism to the alternative reproductive strategies of queenless A. florea workers is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Thailand Research Fund through the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Project (No. PHD/0144/2544) and the Australian Research Council. We acknowledge the technical assistance of Julie Lim and Yon Nuanchan. We also thank the members of the Centre of Excellence in Entomology: Bee Biology, Biodiversity of Insects and Mites, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand and the Behavior and Genetics of Social Insects Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, and particularly Madeleine Beekman, who gave helpful comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Piyamas Nanork

    Present address: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, 44150, Thailand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Piyamas Nanork & Siriwat Wongsiri

  2. Faculty of Technology, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, 44150, Thailand

    Siriwat Wongsiri

  3. Behavior and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Sydney, Australia

    Benjamin P. Oldroyd

Authors
  1. Piyamas Nanork
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  2. Siriwat Wongsiri
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  3. Benjamin P. Oldroyd
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Correspondence to Benjamin P. Oldroyd.

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Communicated by R.F.A. Moritz

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Nanork, P., Wongsiri, S. & Oldroyd, B.P. The reproductive dilemmas of queenless red dwarf honeybee (Apis florea) workers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 91–97 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0239-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0239-4

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