Full text in pdf format

Sex determination in bees. XXIII. Brood of a laying queen treated with juvenile hormone III

Ana Maria Bonetti^I; Warwick Estevam Kerr^II

^IDepartamento de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, 38400 Uberlândia, MG, Brasil. Send correspondence to A.M.B.
^IIDepartamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, 65000 São Luís, MA, Brasil

ABSTRACT

A laying queen of Melipone compressipesfasciculata^, was treated for a total of 9 days with 28 doses of 2.2 µg Juvenile Hormone III dissolved in 1 µ1 acetone solution. Within 8 days the queen laid 77 eggs, 34 of which aborted due to manipulation. Twenty five pupae were counted and found to be composed of 20 workers and 5 queens. Indications are that Juvenile Hormone III applied to the laying queen has no effect on caste tietermination. The hypothesis raised by Kerr (Anais do 3 . Congresso Brasileiro de Apicultura, Piracicaba, SP, 1974, pp. 179-187; Genetics 795: 73-74, 1975) thus far is the most plausible.

Keywords: bees; brood; queen; juvenile; hormone.

REFERENCES

Bonetti, A.M. (1982). Ação do Hormônio Juvenil sobre a expressão gênica em Melipona (Hyme- noptera, Apidae, Meliponinae). Masters Thesis. Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto.

Campos, L.A.O. (1975). Determinação de castas no gênero Melipona (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Papel de Hormônio Juvenil. Masters Thesis. Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto.

Campos, L.A.O. (1978). Sex determination in bees. VI Effects of Juvenile Hormone analogue in males and females of Melipona quadrifasciata (Apidae). J. Kansas Ent. Soc. 51: 228-234.

Campos, L.A.O., Velthuis, H.H.W. and Kluppel-Velthuis, F.M. (1975). Sex determination in bees. VII. Effect of Juvenile Hormone in caste determination of Melipona. Naturwissenschaften 62: 98-99:

Kerr, W.E. (1974a). Sex determination in bees. III. Caste determination and genetic control in Melipona. Insectes Sociaux 21: 357-368.

Kerr, W.E. (1974b). Determinação do sexo em abelhas. X. Programação da atividade dos genes determinantes do sexo e casta. Anais do 3° Congresso Brasileiro de Apicultura (Piracicaba, SP), pp. 179-187.

Kerr, W.E. (1975). Evolution of the population structure in bees. (Proc. XIII Int. Congr. Genetics, Berkeley, 1973). Genetics 79:73-74.

Kerr, W.E. , Akahira, Y. and Camargo, C.A. (1975). Sex determination in bees. IV. Genetic control of Juvenile Hormone production in Melipona quadrifasciata. Genetics 81: 749-756.

Passera (1982). Endocrine regulation of caste determination in ants. In: Social Insects in the Tropics (Jaisson, P., ed.). University of Paris-Nord, Paris, pp. 41-62.

Velthuis, H.H.W. and Velthuis-Kluppel, F.M. (1975). Caste differentiation in a stingless bee, Melipona quadrifasciata Lep. influenced by Juvenile Hormone application. Proc Kon. Ned. Akad. Wetenscheppen, Ser. C. 78:81-94.