More specifically, the effects of the queen signal are maintenance of worker cohesion, suppression of queen rearing, inhibition of worker reproduction, and stimulation of worker activities: cleaning, building, guarding, foraging, and brood feeding ( Figure 5.1). The queen signal acts principally as a primer pheromone, inducing several physiological and behavioral modifications in the worker bees of the colony that result in maintenance of colony homeostasis through establishment of social hierarchy and preservation of the queen’s reproductive supremacy. This regulation is largely achieved by means of pheromones, which are produced by different glands and emitted as a complex chemical blend, known as the “queen signal.” The honey bee queen represents the main regulating factor of the colony functions. In the first part of the chapter the effect (or the effects) exerted by each pheromone on the receivers and on the bee colony will be illustrated, while the neurophysiologic and molecular mechanisms of the response to the chemicals will be discussed in the second part of the chapter. In the following paragraphs the main honey bee pheromones are described, based on the honey bee caste to which they belong and the glands responsible for their production. Among honey bee pheromones, the queen signal and the brood pheromones (described in detail below) are principally primer pheromones (having also some releaser functions), while most worker pheromones are to be considered releaser pheromones. Primer pheromones are especially developed in social insects, where they represent the major driving force in the evolution of social harmony and in maintaining colony homeostasis ( Le Conte and Hefetz 2008). Most of the pheromones known in insects are of the releaser type they are classified into several categories based on their function (e.g., sexual, aggregation, dispersal, alarm, recruitment, trail, territorial, recognition) ( Ali and Morgan 1990). Releaser pheromones have a weaker effect, generating a simple and transitory response that influences the receiver only at the behavioral level.
![swarm queen sexy swarm queen sexy](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/items/701870/e9384a29214abcbe4e8594cb8c9de55b8c3a281e.jpg)
Primer pheromones act at a physiological level, triggering complex and long-term responses in the receiver and generating both developmental and behavioral changes. In honey bees, as in other animals, there are two types of pheromones: primer pheromones and releaser pheromones. Pheromones allow communication among all the honey bee castes: queen–workers, workers–workers, queen–drones, and between adult bees and brood ( Trhlin and Rajchard 2011 Winston 1987). Pheromones are involved in almost every aspect of the honey bee colony life: development and reproduction (including queen mating and swarming), foraging, defense, orientation, and in general the whole integration of colony activities, from foundation to decline.
![swarm queen sexy swarm queen sexy](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/a7/68/f9/a768f924c332b3f4de671275ef8f972a--starcraft-queen-of.jpg)
![swarm queen sexy swarm queen sexy](https://i.natgeofe.com/n/0e57319a-6c4a-4ead-af7a-4956825b271a/50125_2x3.jpg)
Pheromones are the key factor in generating and maintaining this complexity, assuring a broad plasticity of functions that allow the colony to deal with unforeseen events or changing environmental conditions. The composite organization of the honey bee society, which consists of three adult castes (queen, worker, and male) and non-self-sufficient brood, provides for many coordinated activities and developmental processes and thus needs a similar elaborate way of communication among the colony members.
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In honey bees the targets of pheromonal messages are usually members of the same colony, but there are some exceptions in which the target can be a member of another colony ( Free 1987). Pheromones are chemical substances secreted by an animal’s exocrine glands that elicit a behavioral or physiological response by another animal of the same species.
![swarm queen sexy swarm queen sexy](http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/koier_kath/Paraponera-clavataB7.jpg)
Together with the honey bee dance, honey bee pheromones represent one of the most advanced ways of communication among social insects.