the social behavior of the bees: a comparative study

ANALYSE DE LIVRE

The S o c i a l B e h a v i o r of the Bees : a c o m p a r a t i v e s t u d y , b y CHARLES D. MICHENEH. 404 p . Belknaps Press of Harvard Universitg Press, P u b l . , C a m b r i d g e , U .S .A. , 1974 .

T h i s b o o k g ives a n u n p r e c i d e n t e d un i f i ed a n d p r o f o u n d a c c o u n t o f t h e soc ia l b e h a - v ior of bees .

I t i s a g i f t to a n y b io logy s t u d e n t , l e a d i n g s tep by s tep to t he h i g h e s t leve l o f socia l o r g a n i z a t i o n f o u n d in t h e a n i m a l k i n g d o m , t h e r e b y c o n f r o n t i n g t h e r e a d e r w i t h g e n u i n e p r o b l e m s of socia l l ife. T h e r e a d i n g is f a s c i n a t i n g f r o m the b e g i n n i n g to t h e end t h a n k s to we l l def ined, c lea r concep t s as wel l a s c lear i l l u s t r a t i o n s , m a n y of w h i c h a r e new.

T h i s b o o k is a t r e a s u r e che s t fo r t he i n s t r u c t o r w h o f inds t h e r e l e v a n t l i t e r a t u r e e x h a u s t i v e l y r e v i e w e d ; even t h e G e r m a n a n d F r e n c h l a n g u a g e p u b l i c a t i o n s a r e c o m - p le te ly t a k e n in to c o n s i d e r a t i o n .

All t h e e l e m e n t s a re s k i l l f u l l y b u i l t i n to t he w h o l e c o n s t r u c t i o n . I ndeed , t h e r e a re r e p e t i t i o n s b e t w e e n p a r t I, II a n d I I I ; s i m i l a r l y , t h e r e a r e i n e v i t a b l e o v e r l a p s w i t h t he books o f E. O. WILSON (1) a n d K. v. F m s c ~ (2). However , t h e f o c u s on t h e bees j u s t i f i e s s u c h r e d u n d a n c y a n d t h e overa l l s y n t h e s i s r e q u i r e s it.

The b o o k is p r e d e s t i n e d to b e c o m e a s t a n d a r d for r e s e a r c h in b e e s : i t n o t o n l y offers up to da te knowl edge , b u t in a d d i t i o n t he a u t h o r , a n e x p e r i e n c e d e x p e r i m e n t e r , a n d wel l r e a d spec ia l i s t , p u t s f a c t s a n d p r o b l e m s , in to p r o p e r a n d t h o u g h t f u l pe r spec - t ive a f t e r c r i t i ca l p e r u s a l .

Some c h a p t e r s wi l l be m e n t i o n e d s p e c i f i c a l l y : In c h a p t e r five, p a r t II , even the e x p e r t wil l d i s c o v e r e r s o m e n e w e x a m p l e s for p a r a s o e i a l a n d s u b s o e i u l co lon ies . M a n y of t h e m h a v e been d i scove red by t h e a u t h o r h i m s e l f . At t h i s level a l so in t e r spee i f i e c o o p e r a t i o n is descr ibed , fo r i n s t a n c e b e t w e e n Osmia lignaria a n d O. california. Special e m p h a s i s is p laced on Lasioglossam zephyrzzm w h i c h d e m o n s t r a t e s b o t h b e h a v i o r a l l y anti p h y s i o l o g i c a l l y a l l t r a n s i t i o n a l s t ages b e t w e e n queen a n d worker."

T h e d i f f i cu l t p r o b l e m s of << sex r a t io >> a n d r cas te d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n >> a s wel l a s r gyne p r o d u c t i o n >> a re l uc i d l y d i s c u s s c d in t h e c h a p t e r s 8, 9, 10 a n d 11. T h e sexes can be d e t e r m i n e d in t h e f o l l o w i n g w a y s :

1. T h r o u g h a d d i t i v e f e m a l e d e t e r m i n i n g genes ( • a t one or m o r e loci a n d n o n a d d i t i v e m a l e d e t e r m i n i n g genes (6) a t d i f f e ren t loci.

2 T h r o u g h t h e l y t o k o u s p a r t h e n o g e n e s i s : In Apis capensis w o r k e r s deve lop p a r - t h c n o g e n e t i c a l l y v i a m e i o s i s a n d r e c o m b i n a t i o n ( a u t o m i x i s ) .

3. T h r o u g h socia l r e g u l a t i o n : d ip lo id m a l e l a r v a e - - a c c o r d i n g to W o y k e - - a re e a t en by n u r s i n g w o r k e r s .

4. U n d e r t h e in f luence o f e x t e r n a l f a c t o r s : I n Lasioglosszzm cinefipes s h o r t d a y l e n g t h a n d h i g h t e m p e r a t u r e s c ause f o u r t i m e s h i g h e r p r o d u c t i o n of m a l e s t h a n n o r m a l c o n d i t i o n s .

(1) T h e In sec t Societ ies . (2) O r i e n t i e r u n g u n d S p raehe de r B ienen .

200 ANALYSE DE LIVRE

Only wi th respect to caste de t e rmina t i on in Apis t he reviewer is m i s s ing references to the la tes t r e su l t s of Wir tz and de Wilde as well a s Hembotd, showing t h a t the juven i le h o r m o n e level is of decisive impor tance .

Po in t ing to the fol lowing problem is i m p o r t a n t in th i s c o n t e x t : The well known queen subs tance of Apis inh ib i t s queen p roduc t ion ; 500 ~ g / d a y of it is produced and d i s t r ibu ted a m o n g the workers t h rough food exchange. E l imina t ion of the queen is noticed af te r only ha l f an hour hy the workers which then prepare for supercedure ; th i s implies , however, t ha t the queen subs tance be c on t i nuous ly and rap id ly decom- posed. P re sumab ly , the inact ivated qucen ~ubstance is fed back to the queen to be resyn thes ized again .

Occasionally the e l imina t ion of a su rp lu s queen is a r a t h e r d ramat i c p r o c e d u r e : In some smal l species of Trigona such a queen is wal led into a smal l c ha mbe r of wax and propoli s and left dying of s tarvat ion .

Division of labor, or ientat ion, and c o m m u n i c a t i o n are presented even for the exper t comprehens ive ly and correctly in the fol lowing chapters . Wi th respect to th i s very section the complete reference to the German and French language l i t e ra tu re shou ld be s t ressed aga in ; fu r the rmore , the objective d iscuss ion of the cont roversy w i th W e n n e r is acknowledged in th i s context.

Fasc ina t ing i s the account covering the r i tua l p rc sen ta t ion of t rophic eggs wh ich arc to be eaten by the queen in me l ipon ines and in Bombus; s imi la r ly cap t iva t ing is the conflict abou t the cons t ruc t ion of a species specific en t rance tube ar i s ing in mixed colonies of Trigona testaceicornis and T. mosq~lito; also, the c l a d e s t i n e en t rance of Psithyrzls, the paras i t ic bumblebee, into the bumblcbce ne s t ; finally, tbe confus ion provoked by Lestrimelitla in the social o rgan iza t ion of Trigona c o lon i e s : Thereby the first group of Lestrimelitta i n t rudc r s is sacrificed to a l low thc rest of the i r colony to rob the foreign nest unmolcs ted for days.

In the las t chap te r of par t II, the mos t difficult and problemat ic , - - <r The Evo- lu t ion of the Social Bchavior in Bees >>, : - - new clcar hypo the se s emerge out of the va r ious theories . There are pene t ra t ing thought~ about a t t r n l s m and kin selection. Pa r t III is devotetl to l ife h is tor ies of va r ious groups, the reby e m p h a s i n g nes t cons- t ru cti on.

Not only the cntomologis t , the biologis t and the in s t ruc to r will be appealed to by the var ious fo rms of h a r m o n i o u s social behav ior in bccs, bu t every fr iend of biology will be led by th i s book to new discoveries and new marve l s .

M. LINDAUE:n.