Colony Defence of two Honeybee Types and their Hybrid 1. Naturally Mated Queens

SummaryHoneybee colonies of Africanized and European (Italian) types, and hybrids between the two (Italian × Africanized), were assayed for eleven measures of colony defensive behaviour. The Africanized colonies were significantly more defensive than the European ones. The hybrids were intermediate to the parental types in terms of seconds to respond to a sting target, total stings delivered, number of bees around the colony entrance prior to testing (0 s), and number of bees in the air at 60 s and 90 s. The hybrids were similar to the European parent in terms of seconds to respond to alarm pheromone, number of responding bees around the colony entrance at 30 s, 60 s and 90 s, and the number of bees in the air at 0 s and 30 s.