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Subject:
From:
Paul Collett <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Paul Collett <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 22 Jun 2005 21:12:22 +0200
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Robin said:
> Waldemar implies that queen pheromone is airbourne.  As I remember
> reading/believe, queen pheromone is transmitted by contact - the queen
> leaves footprint pheromone wherever she patrols and the bees take
> pheromone
> off her body by licking (sounds delicious!).

Are you sure that Queen Mandibular Pheromone is not airborne?  Work done by
Crewe and Moritz (2004) about trapping QMP with silicone rubber tubes and
other by Arthur and Pawliszyn (1990) by gas chromatography, suggests that
the pheromone is airborne.

From my experience, worker bees if dumped with their queen will soon locate
her and move in her direction.  Worker bees also have mandibular pheromones
which differ only from QMP by the position of the functional group of the
10-carbon fatty acid.  Sounds like an awful amount of licking.

According to Plettner, Slessor and Winston (1997), QMP is a "signal by which
the queen makes her presence and reproductive dominance felt throughout the
nest"  How is this done purely by licking and footprints?

I am very interested to hear if this is correct, because until now I
understood it otherwise.  Does anybody else have something to say regarding
this?

Respectfully submitted :)

Paul Collett
Acacia Apiaries
Eastern Cape
South Africa

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