A behavioral guard caste in a primitively eusocial orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, helps defend the nest against resin theft by conspecifics
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2015
Citazione:
A behavioral guard caste in a primitively eusocial orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, helps defend the nest against resin theft by conspecifics / S. Boff, N. Forfert, R.J. Paxton, E. Montejo, J.J.G. Quezada-Euan. - In: INSECTES SOCIAUX. - ISSN 0020-1812. - 62:2(2015), pp. 247-249.
Abstract:
Defense castes are know from highly eusocial insects yet have rarely been described in social species with a small colony size. In nests of Euglossa viridissima, an orchid bee exhibiting primitively eusocial behavior, we recorded one subordinate female per nest to specialize in guarding in the presence of a dominant and a second subordinate who specialized in foraging. Guarding may have arisen as a response to cleptobiosis by conspecifics, as nests with a guard more successfully avoided intrusion and resin theft.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Apidae; Euglossini; Social evolution; Intraspecific parasitism
Elenco autori:
S. Boff, N. Forfert, R.J. Paxton, E. Montejo, J.J.G. Quezada-Euan
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