Posted on: 02 March, 2017
Author: Alexander P
Perhaps the male marking pheromone acts as an attractant and arrestant for the queen, but this has yet to be demonstrated experimentally. Perhaps it also acts as an aphrodisiac. The bioassay, mentione... Perhaps the male marking pheromone acts as an attractant and arrestant for the queen, but this has yet to be demonstrated experimentally. Perhaps it also acts as an aphrodisiac. The bioassay, mentioned above, to test the reactions of males to components of site marking pheromones could also be used to test their attractiveness to virgin queens. Queens must seek out the type of location where ight routes of males of their own species occur. Because the marking pheromone desposited by males emanates from many points covering a relatively wide area, a queen is dramatic. The similar composition have clearly differentiated ight route locations, the former being near the ground and the latter being at tree—top level. Lastly cross-mating is probably prevented or discouraged because a queen is unreceptive to strange males of other species or perhaps because the males themselves nd her unattractive. Queen Pheromone behaviour Free ying queens have been seen to visit the sites established by males along ight routes (e.g. Haas, 1949b; Kruger, 1951; Free, 1971; Svensson, 1979). But observations associating queens with ight routes are, unfortunately, not common, probably because the system is so efficient that the queens are quickly mated. Actual copulation probably occurs on foliage or on the ground a short distance from the visiting site according to http://worstthing.org/my-report-on-pherazone-ultra/ Perhaps the male marking pheromone acts as an attractant and arrestant for the queen, but this has yet to be demonstrated experimentally. Perhaps it also acts as an aphrodisiac. The bioassay, mentioned above, to test the reactions of males to components of site marking pheromones could also be used to test their attractiveness to virgin queens. Queens must seek out the type of location where ight routes of males of their own species occur. Because the marking pheromone desposited by males emanates from many points covering a relatively wide area, a queen is Recognition of Queens When queens are suspended by threads near the visiting sites along ight routes males are usually attracted to them and attempt to mate, but those tethered between visiting sites are usually ignored (Free, 1971). Indeed, the queen’s attractiveness is greatest within a few centimetres of a focal point at the visiting site, and is greatly diminished even a short distance away (Awram, 1970; Awram and Free, 1987b). Tethered queens and models of queens have been used to determine which features of a queen are attractive to males (Awram, 1970; Free, 1971; Awram and Free, 1987b). The initial male response is visual. The preference shown by males for models of different colours and sizes in general reects the sizes and colour patterns of their queens, especially their appearance under ultraviolet light. After the intial visual response, odour appears to be important in eliciting contact and attempted mating. Males were induced to alight on small cylindrical cages of perforated zinc that contained virgin queens, whereas they inspected but did not alight on similar cages containing workers or drones (Free, 1971). As visual identication was excluded in these experi- ments the queen odours alone must have been responsible for the males’ reaction to them. When given the choice males made contact with queens of their own species more than those of other species, although the initial response to each species was similar. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com Alexander P is a blogger from Los Angeles who studies pheromones.