A scientific note on the natural merger of two honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera capensis)

• Main Authors: Neumann, P, Pirk, C W W, Hepburn, H R, Radloff, S E
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011875

Natural mergers of honeybee colonies are commonplace in tropical Africa (Hepburn and Radloff, 1998), but their consequences on organizational structure are unknown. Here we determine the spatial distribution and division of labor of workers (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.) following a merger of two colonies. Two unrelated colonies (each ~3000 bees) were placed in threeframe observation hives. When workers emerged from the sealed brood of each colony, they were individually labeled and reintroduced into their respective mother hives. They are referred to as cohorts Aand B, each comprising 300 workers of the same age. The behaviors and positions of all labeled workers and queens were recorded twice daily for 24 days (Kolmes, 1989; Pirk et al., 2000). On day 14 colony B was dequeened, left its nest and merged with colony A on day 15.