Apis cerana Fabricius is endemic to most of Asia, where it has been used for honey production and pollination services for thousands of years. Since the 1980s, A. cerana has been introduced to areas outside its natural range (namely New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Australia), which sparked fears that it may become a pest species that could compete with, and negatively affect, native Australian fauna and flora, as well as commercially kept A. mellifera and commercial crops. This literature review is a response to these concerns and reviews what is known about the ecology and behaviour of A. cerana. Differences between temperate and tropical strains of A. cerana are reviewed, as are A. cerana pollination, competition between A. cerana and A. mellifera, and the impact and control strategies of introduced A. cerana, with a particular focus on gaps of current knowledge.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/4/4/558/pdf

Ecology, Behaviour and Control of Apis cerana with a Focus on Relevance to the Australian Incursion.

A report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

Participation of the Nasonov scent in the defence waving behaviour of Apis dorsata is demonstrated. The Nasonov scent seems to act as a superior pheromone for the control and promotion of individual defensive reaction, synchronizing and maximizing the defensive response on colony level. The role of Nasonov scenting in defensive behaviour is discussed, being in keeping with its usual role in attraction and coordination of social behaviour, as known from A. mellifera.

Evidence of Nasonov Scenting in Colony Defence of the Giant Honeybee Apis dorsata

Hitherto unknown biological properties and the chemical composition of the essential oil isolated from propolis of Indian origin were established. GC/MS Analysis of the essential oil revealed the presence of 32 constituents, of which ten were major compounds, nine had intermediate contents, and 13 were minor compounds. With the exception of six minor constituents, that could not be identified, their identification was based on the comparison of their mass spectra and Kovats retention indices with those listed in the NIST and Wiley mass spectral libraries. Their structural assignment was confirmed by GC/MS co-injection of the essential oil with authentic compounds. Quantification of the components was done by GC-FID analyses. Moreover, the essential oil was shown to possess repellent activity against the honeybee Apis florea. The activity was found to be dose dependent. The average repellency (ΔR) increased with increasing essential-oil concentration up to 24 μg/ml and remained constant for the formulation with the higher concentration. These findings established the chemical constitution of the essential oil and might be useful to beekeepers for the improvement of the bee management.

Essential Oil of Indian Propolis: Chemical Composition and Repellency against the Honeybee Apis florea

Giant honeybees, Apis dorsata, have evolved a plethora of defence behaviours that enable this lifestyle. Against predatory wasps, they display Mexican wave-like cascades of “shimmering” whereby hundreds of bees flip their abdomens upwards in a split second. Shimmering is a type of social defence that also has relevance for task partitioning, collective decision making and social communication. Shimmering also relies on unexplored principles of information transfer and is a compelling example of self-organisation. It addresses “proximate” questions (how does shimmering work?) and ultimate questions (why has shimmering evolved?) and, therefore, gives rise to the discovery of interdependencies between giant honeybees as prey and its predators as part of a “co-evolutionary arms race”. Here, we review the underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon of shimmering and prove some of its anti-predatory goals.

Self-Assembly Processes in Honeybees: The Phenomenon of Shimmering

SummaryThe Nasonov gland pheromone of the Indian honeybee (Apis cerana indica F.) was analysed for the first time and found to contain neral, (Z)-citral, I, as the main component.

M. C. Suryanarayana

Papers

Nasonov Gland Pheromone of the Indian Honeybee, Apis Cerana Indica F.

Antennal Sensilla of Adult Worker Apis Cerana Indica