Behavioral defense strategies of the stingless bee

Authors: M Halcroft R SpoonerHart P Neumann

Publish Date: 2010/12/29

Volume: 58, Issue: 2, Pages: 245-253

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Abstract

Small hive beetle Aethina tumida Murray is a parasite of social bee colonies and has become an invasive species raising concern of the potential threat to native pollinators in its new ranges Here we report the defensive behavior strategies used by workers of the Australian stingless bee Austroplebeia australis Friese against the small hive beetle A nondestructive method was used to observe inhive behavior and interactions between bees and different life stages of small hive beetle egg larva and adult A number of different individual and group defensive behaviors were recorded Up to 97 of small hive beetle eggs were destroyed within 90 min of introduction with a significant increase in temporal rate of destruction between the first and subsequent introductions A similar result was recorded for 3dayold small hive beetle larvae with an increased removal rate from 625 to 925 between the first and second introductions Of 32 adult beetles introduced directly into the 4 colonies 59 were ejected with the remainder being entombed alive in hives within 6 h Efficiency of ejection also significantly increased between the first and third introductions Our observations suggest that A australis colonies despite no previous exposure to this exotic parasite have well developed hive defences that are likely to minimize entry and survival of small hive beetlesWe thank Anne Dollin of the Australian Native Bee Research Centre for valuable advice on Australian stingless bees Michael Duncan Apiary manager UWS for technical support Sven Buchholz MartinLuther University HalleWittenberg and Zamir Hossain from the Centre for Plants and the Environment UWS for supply of small hive beetle and Remko Duursma UWS for statistical support

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