Longevity of africanized worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) carrying eye color mutant alleles

Scientia Agricola

Rosana De Almeida¹  Ademilson Espencer Egea Soares¹ 

[1] ,USP Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto Depto. de GenéticaRibeirão Preto SP ,Brasil

关键词: eyes;    mutants;    cream;    snow-laranja;    brick;    olhos;    mutantes;    creme;    snow-laranja;    brick;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0103-90162003000200011

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The dark coloration of insects eyes is attributed to the accumulation of the brown pigment insectorubin, a mixture of ommochromes, xanthommatin and several ommins, biosynthesized from tryptophan. When any of the events in the synthesis chain is interrupted, formation and accumulation of pigments other than insectorubin occurs, and a new eye color will appear. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the longevity of worker honey bees Apis mellifera, homozygous and heterozygous for the mutant alleles cream (cr), snow-laranja (s la) and brick (bk). Eye pigmentation and average longetivity of bees are very closely related. Mutant bees carrying lighter eye pigmentation are unable to return to the hive; there is, therefore, a close association between the eye pigmentation and honey bees lifespan. Experiments ran in confinement cages confirm the orientation problems of mutant honey bees, which kept in a limited space, were able to return to the hive and had an extended lifespan in comparison to that observed in the nature, and did not present statistical difference (P>0.05) relative to the control group. Confinement to restricted areas improves honey bees orientation abilities and facilitates return to the hive.

【 授权许可】

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