This document summarizes key aspects of bee biology and communication. It describes the four life stages of honeybee development and the three castes in a honeybee colony: queens, workers, and drones. Queens lay eggs and produce pheromones, workers divide labor and duties as they age, and drones mate with queens. The document also explains the three types of honeybee dances - waggle, round, and sickle - used to communicate location and distance of food sources. Finally, it mentions how honeybees use pheromones and food exchanges to share information within the colony.

1. Bee biology and
communication
Dr. Denisha Rajkhowa
Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology
CoA, CAU, Imphal

2. Biology of Honeybee
• Honey bees undergo complete metamorphosis
(holometabolism)
• Develop through four life stages
1. Egg
2. Larva
3. Pupa
4. Adult

3. Colony organization
• There are three castes in a honeybee colony: queen, workers and
drone
• Queen and workers are female bee and drones are male bee
• Only one queen can live in Apis species colony but in case of
stingless bee, there are more than one queen in a colony
• From fertilized egg, workers are developed and in Apis cerana
colony 10,000-30,000 workers and in Apis mellifera colony
30,000-50,000 workers are present
• Drones are developed from unfertilized egg and only 200-300
drones in Apis cerana colony and 400-500 in Apis mellifera
colony are present

4. Fig: Apis cerana colony

5. Fig: Apis mellifera colony

6. Fig: Apis dorsata colony

7. Fig: Apis florea colony

8. Queen
• Queen is the only reproductively and perfectly
developed
female in the colony
• Queen can lay fertilized and unfertilized eggs as is
indicated by the workers
• A queen can live upto 2 – 5 years
• Can lay 1500 eggs a day during breeding season
• Produces air-borne pheromones (“queen substance”)
that keep the colony functioning orderly, loyal and
protective to that queen
• Stinger does not have barbs – only uses it to kill rival
queens
Fig . Apis cerana
queen
Fig . Apis mellifera
queen

9. Workers
• A worker bee’s life spend is about 6 weeks
during active brood rearing season
• Division of labour among the workers is
on physiological basis
• During the first half of her life she
becomes nurse bee, they involves in wax
production, feeding to the larvae, royal
preparation, comb building etc.
• In the second half of her life, she
becomes searcher and gatherer
Fig . Apis cerana
worker
Fig . Apis mellifera
worker

10. Drone
• The average life span of drone is almost
2 months
• The only function of male bee is to
mate with queen and die after mating
• They can not feed by themselves, so 3-6
workers are required to transfer the
food to a drone
• They are driven out of the hive to die of
starvation when not needed
Fig . Apis cerana drone
Fig . Apis mellifera
drone

11. Honeybee communication
• Honey bees use movement, odour cues, and even food
exchanges to share information.
• During foraging honeybee can communicate to each other
through their movement which is called dance
communication
• There are 3 types of dance communication
1. Waggle dance
2. Round dance
3. Sickle dance
• The purpose of the dance is simply to gain attention to the
returning worker bee so she can share the odor of the nectar
with other workers who will then follow the odor trail to the
source

12. • Waggle dance performs to teach other workers
(gatherer) the location of food sources more than
150 meters from the hive
• Round dance is a series of narrow circular
movements, alerts colony members to the
presence of food within 50 meters of the hive
• Sickle dance is intermediate between waggle
and round dance, alerts workers to food
supplies within 50-150 meters from the hive

13. Sickle dance

14. • Odour cues also transmit important information to
members of the honey bee colony
1. Pheromones produced by the queen control
reproduction in the hive
2. Pheromones play a role in the defense of the hive
as well. When a worker honey bee stings, it
produces a pheromone that alerts her fellow
workers to the threat
3. During wax production, honey production they
also use different kind of pheromone

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