الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION
Morphological characters of the honeybee workersOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This study was carried out under laboratory conditions in Assiut Insect Research Laboratory, Plant Protection Research Institute during the active season of 2012.
Honeybee queens produce pheromones that regulate many aspects of colony organization; worker morphology, behaviour and physiology.
Here, we investigate the effect of certain different statuses of honeybee queens on differently aged bee workers (3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 - days-old) including: the morphology of the antennae as the flagellum length, the types, distributions, numbers and measurements of the different sensilla on the different flagellomeres (I, III, V, VII and IX) that was analyzed by SEM; also the workers behavior as the wax cell construction, bee bread consumption by the workers and the workers physiology asdevelopment of the workers̕ ovaries; development of workers̕ hypopharyngeal glands (HG) and workers longevity.
These different statuses of queens were:one-year-old mated queens (M), mated supersedure queens (S), three-days-old virgin queens (V), queen cells at the beginning of sealed (Q), without queens (queenless) (W) and without queens / without bee bread (W/W).
I: Morphological characters of the honeybee workers:
A: Morphological &ultrastructural studies:
The effect on the morphology of the antennae in honeybee workers, was analyzed by SEM, with respect to the different queen statuses.
The means of the flagellum length at different ages of the workers under different queen statuses were calculated; also the types, distributions, numbers and measurements of the different sensilla on the different flagellomeres (I, III, V, VII and IX) were determined.
The honeybee antennae (one on each side) consist of one segmented scape, a pivoted pedicel and a long slender flagellum, which is composed of 10 segments in female (queen and workers) and of 11 segments in drones. These antennae house thousands of various types of sensory organs (sensilla) that include not only olfactory receptors, but also mechanoreceptors sensitive to touch, gustatory receptors for taste and thermo-hygroreceptors for temperature and humidity.
The means of the flagellum length were, 17.67 A± 0.654, 17.25 AB± 0.403, 16.67 AB± 0.654, 17.58 A± 0.790;, 15.33 B± 0.853 and 16.67 AB± 0.691 for the workers under (M), (S), (V), (Q), (W) and (W/W) statuses, respectively.
The electrone microscopic study of the honeybee workersat different ages headed by different queen statuses, revealed the presence of seven types and (eleven subtypes) of sensilla on the flagellum of the Workers’ antennae. The classification of these sensilla types is done on the basis of cuticular morphology supported by studies of ultrastructure and electrophysiology and also the functional differences between these sensilla as following: sensillaAmpullacea{Am}, sensillaBasiconica{Ba}, sensillaCampaniformia{Cf}, sensillaChaetica I, II {Ch}, sensillaCoelloconica I, II {Co}, sensillaPlacodea I, II, III {PL} and sensillaTrichodea I, II, III, IV {Tr}.
One could conclude that, the different queen statuses and the protein feeding affecting the numbers and measurements of the different sensilla types in honeybeeworkers. On the other hand, workers reared in the presence of a queen have improved performance in olfactory learning and memory assays compared to those reared in queenless colonies.
II: Behavioral characters of the honeybee workers:
A: Wax cell construction:
The comb construction (number of wax cells), included the measurement of both worker-sized and drone-sized cells. The means of total wax cells that were constructed are, 167.00 (92.78%), 126.50 (70.28%), 138.75 (77.11%), 123.25 (68.50%), 107.25 (59.61%) and 82.75 (45.97%); for the workers under (M), (V), (S), (Q), (W) and (W/W) statuses, respectively. The constructed supernumerary of the drone-sized wax cells are 2.25 (1.78%) and 1.5 (1.22%) for the workers under (V) and (Q) statuses, respectively. In conclusion, the results showed that the comb construction (number of cells) significantly increased in queen right statuses (M), (V), (S) and (Q), compared to queen absence statuses (W) and (W/W). No royal cells construction was observed in our experimental set-up with all queen statuses; so that, the different queen statuses have great effect on the comb construction in honeybeeworkers.
B: Food consumption:
The effects of the different queen statuses on food consumption was studied. The means of food consumption of newly emerged worker bees headed with tested queen statuses didn’t differ significantly. The highest food consumption through thirty- three days after emergence was recorded for the workers under Q status (48.513 mg). The lowest consumption was noticed for workers under V status (37.626 mg). This study showed that, it is clear that the different queen statuses play an important role on the food consumption.
III: Physiological characters of the honeybee workers:
A: Ovarian development:
We investigate the effect of the different queen statuses of honeybee on the development of worker ovaries. Both mated queens of one-year-old and mated supersedure queens don’t appeared any egg – laying workers (fully developed ovaries). The maximum percentage of egg-laying workers 76.75% was recorded in the workers without queens. While, the minimum percentage 3.25% was recorded in case of the workers under without queen/without bee bread. Also, the present study was showed that bee bread or protein feeding plays an important role in regulating reproductive system.
B: Hypopharyngeal glands development:
We investigate the effect of the different queen statuses of honeybee queens on the development of hypopharyngeal glands (HG).All queen statuses under experiment occurred highly significant activation in the HG development of bee workers, in compared to without queen/without bee bread bees. Also, the present study was showed that bee bread or protein feeding plays an important role in regulating food producing gland development of bee workers.
C: Workers longevity:
The effects of the different queen statuses on honeybee workers longevity was studied. The mortality rates of honeybee workers under different queen statuses were calculated. The results indicated that the lifetime of honeybee workers under (M), (S) and (Q) statuses, was mostly similar and recording 40.22, 39.12 and 39.1 days, respectively, while the workers under (V) status, their LT 50 extended to (41.55 days). For caged worker bees under (W/W) status, their longevity shortened LT 50 to (11.75 days) in compared with the workers under (W) status where their LT 50 (21.50 days).
Sothat, it is clear that the effects of both these queen statuses and the protein feeding play an important role in influencing the longevity of honeybeeworkers.
So, from our previous results and discussions, we may assume; it is now observed that, the effects of queen statuses, workers age and protein feeding play a very important role in controlling sensitive structure, behavior and physiology of the workers at different ages.
Moreover, we should recommend; further investigation on different pheromones and their influence on all individuals in the honeybee colony. Also more studies based on differences between colonies to provide more understanding to all important processes and to figure out more about morphology, behavior and physiology of those creatures.
People who works in this field (beekeepers) should take care of the queen and keep it mated with high pheromone levels to keep high control of the hive and in order to get high productivity of honey and other bee products.