Locomotion and searching behaviour in the honey bee larva depend on nursing interaction

VAZQUEZ D; FARINA WALTER M.

APIDOLOGIE

EDP SCIENCES S A

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2021 vol. 52 p. 1368 - 1386

0044-8435

Although honey bee brood does not need to seek shelter or food and restricts its movements to smallwax cells, larvae have some degree of motility. Previously, other studies described how honey bee larvae showedanalogous behaviours to the wandering period in holometabolous insects. The current research aimed to measurelocomotion of the honey bee brood at different conditions of food supply and larval stadia. Besides, we developedan actometry assay to describe the larval behaviour under laboratory conditions. Our results suggested that thesatiety and developmental program of larvae modulated their locomotion. Before they pupated, larval speedincreased sharply and then it dropped until quiescence. However, starvation also induced an increase in angularvelocity of brood. Starved larvae were between three and five times faster than the satiated ones. Moreover,fifth instars left their wax cells after 2 h of starvation without nurse bees. In the actometry assay, larvae showedbehaviours of dispersion and changes in their kinematic parameters after detecting a tactile stimulus like theedge of arenas.