Does Honey Bee Sting Alarm Pheromone Give Orientation Information to Defensive Bees?

2000/11/01 by Brook R. Wager, Michael D. Breed · 16 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Neuroscience · Psychology · #ALARM #Biochemistry #Biology #Botany #Chemotaxis #Communication #Context (archaeology) #Honey Bees #Honey bee #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Insect and Pesticide Research #Materials science #Neuroscience #Odor #Pheromone #Physics #Plant and animal studies #Psychology #Sex pheromone #Sting

paper · pdf · doi:10.1603/0013-8746(2000)093[1329:dhbsap]2.0.co;2

openalex publication_date 2000/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

We tested compounds found in honey bee, Apis mellifera L., sting alarm pheromone for their roles in releasing behavioral responses, with a focus on the relative importance of chemotaxis and motion of the target in the localization response. Some compounds in the blend have specialized functions. Benzyl acetate released only flight behavior, whereas three compounds (1-butanol, 1-octanol, and hexyl acetate) caused only the recruitment response. Other compounds (1-hexanol, butyl acetate, iso-pentyl acetate, and 2-nonanol) acted in more than one behavioral context. Octyl acetate was the most effective compound in allowing bees to locate targets, but did not recruit or release flight behavior. Stationary octyl acetate sources were located by flying bees, indicating that this pheromone component elicits a chemotactic response. However, localization of a target is due primarily to the motion of the target; the alarm pheromone components release searching behavior for a moving object and are relatively unimportant in target localization.

Cited by

• Division of labour during honeybee colony defence: poetic and scientific views
• Suicide as a derangement of the self-sacrificial aspect of eusociality. [europepmc]
• Foragers of sympatric Asian honey bee species intercept competitor signals by avoiding benzyl acetate from Apis cerana alarm pheromone. [europepmc]
• Complementary Specializations of the Left and Right Sides of the Honeybee Brain. [europepmc]
• Thymol Affects Congruency Between Olfactory and Gustatory Stimuli in Bees. [europepmc]
• Honey Bee Alarm Pheromone Mediates Communication in Plant-Pollinator-Predator Interactions. [europepmc]
• Honeybee communication during collective defence is shaped by predation. [europepmc]
• Context-dependent influence of threat on honey bee social network dynamics and brain gene expression. [europepmc]
• Olfactory Strategies in the Defensive Behaviour of Insects. [europepmc]
• Extracting individual characteristics from population data reveals a negative social effect during honeybee defence. [europepmc]
• Chronic larval exposure to thiacloprid impairs honeybee antennal selectivity, learning and memory performances. [europepmc]
• Honey Bee Colonies ( Apis mellifera L.) Perform Orientation Defensiveness That Varies among Bred Lines. [europepmc]
• Impact of Chronic Exposure to Two Neonicotinoids on Honey Bee Antennal Responses to Flower Volatiles and Pheromonal Compounds. [europepmc]
• Phenotypic and genetic characterization of Africanized Apis mellifera colonies with natural tolerance to Varroa destructor and contrasting defensive behavior. [europepmc]
• Division of labour during honeybee colony defence: poetic and scientific views. [europepmc]
• Identification of two odorant receptors tuned to alarm pheromone compounds in the honey bee Apis mellifera. [europepmc]

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