Comparative analyses of the abdominal tergal glands in Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Queens

Abstract

Abstract The acceptance of a new queen in a colony is related to the maintenance of workers court in its surroundings, and for that make up, queens use pheromones produced in its mandibular and in the tergal glands. This study evaluated possible differences in the development of the unicellular tergal glands of virgin and mated queens with different ages, obtained from ovens and colonies. The older virgin and older mated queens had the most developed tergal glands, while queens obtained from colonies had more developed tergal glands than queens reared in ovens.