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Do simple rules apply in honey-bee nestmate discrimination?

Abstract

How do honey-bees integrate cues in nestmate recognition? Honey-bees are able to discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates using olfactory cues or contact chemoreception. Nestmates may differ from non-nestmates in either cues produced by the individuals, which have a genetic basis, or in cues that are acquired from the hive environment. Recognitive cues are learned by worker bees early in adult life; the learned cue profile serves as a template for comparison and determination of the colonial membership of bees that are encountered. We report here the response of bees to two cues: hexadecane and methyl docosonoate.

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Breed, M., Julian, G. Do simple rules apply in honey-bee nestmate discrimination?. Nature 357, 685–686 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/357685a0

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