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Drone attraction to ether extracts of virgin queens (Apis mellifera L.) demonstrated that chemical communication enables the drones to orient themselves to queens during mating flights. The primary source of queen mating attractants is the mandibular glands. Fractionation of mandibular gland lipids yielded several attractive fractions that may act jointly. One fraction was queen substance (9-oxodec-2-enoic acid).
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Norman E. Gary (1962) studied this question.
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