Hive Defensive Behavior in Japanese Honey Bees: The Bees Slap Ants with Their Wings to Prevent Intrusion

Photo 1. The moment when a Japanese honey bee tilts its body and changes direction while flapping its wings to slap a Japanese pavement ant (Tetramorium tsushimae) approaching the hive entrance. This honey bee is attempting to slap the ant with its right wing. Photo credit: Kiyohito Morii. Photo 2. A Japanese honey bee (left) flicks away a Japanese pavement ant (right) through wing-slapping. The ant, slapped by the bee's wing, is helplessly lifted off the surface. Photo credit: Kiyohito Morii. Photo 3. Some Japanese pavement ants manage to infiltrate the hive without being detected by the guard bees. This photo shows an intruder stealing a bee egg. If the guard bees fail to continuously defend the hive from ants, these intrusions could become more extensive. Photo credit: Kiyohito Morii. These photographs illustrate the article "Wing-slapping: A defensive behavior by honey bees against ants" by Yugo Seko, Kiyohito Morii, and Yoshiko Sakamoto published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4372