Abdomen flipping of Apis dorsata breviligula worker bees correlated with temperature of nest curtain surface

Jerzy Woyke; Jerzy Wilde; Maria Wilde; Cleofas Cervancia

doi:doi:10.1051/apido:2006032

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Volume 37 / No 4 (July-August 2006)

Apidologie, 37 4 (2006) 501-505

Abstract

Free Access

Issue		Apidologie Volume 37, Number 4, July-August 2006


Page(s)		501 - 505
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2006032
Published online		29 June 2006

Apidologie 37 (2006) 501-505
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2006032

Abdomen flipping of Apis dorsata breviligula worker bees correlated with temperature of nest curtain surface

Jerzy Woyke^a, Jerzy Wilde^b, Maria Wilde^b and Cleofas Cervancia^c

^a Apicultural Division, Agricultural University, Warsaw, Poland
^b Apicultural Division, Warmia-Mazury University, Olsztyn, Poland
^c Institute of Biological Science, University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines

(Received 19 July 2005 - Revised 14 December 2005 - Accepted 6 January 2006 - published online 29 June 2006)

Abstract - Apis laboriosa and Apis dorsata worker bees in the curtain covering the nest comb perform dorso-ventral abdomen flipping (AF). Relationship between percentage of bees performing AF and the nest surface temperature (t $_{\rm c}$ ) or ambient temperature (t $_{\rm a})$ was investigated on A. dorsata breviligula nests in the Philippines. When both temperatures dropped down the %AF increased. Partial correlation showed, that the correlations between %AF and t $_{\rm c}$ were about 4 times higher than between %AF and t $_{\rm a}$ . This support the hypothesis that worker bees of the mantle of the curtain, which perform AF, react rather to the temperature around them in the surface of the curtain than to ambient temperature some distance apart.

Key words: Apis dorsata / abdomen flipping / nest curtain / temperature correlation / Philippines

© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2006