Queenlessness and reproductive differentiation in Ophthalmopone hottentota

The reproductive activity of ants in two colonies of Ophthalmopone hottentota was determined by dissecting their ovaries and examining their spermathecae. Queens are absent. There are a number of inseminated workers in each colony, and all these had active ovaries. Thus, the strict association between ovarian activity and Insemination was confirmed for this species

Pion-Muon Asymmetry Revisited

Long ago an unexpected and unexplainable phenomena was observed. The distribution of muons from positive pion decay at rest was anisotropic with an excess in the backward direction relative to the direction of the proton beam from which the pions were created. Although this effect was observed by several different groups with pions produced by different means, the result was not accepted by the physics community, because it is in direct conflict with a large set of other experiments indicating that the pion is a pseudoscalar particle. It is possible to satisfy both sets of experiments if helicity-zero vector particles exist and the pion is such a particle. Helicity-zero vector particles have direction but no net spin. For the neutral pion to be a vector particle requires an additional modification to conventional theory as discussed herein. An experiment is proposed which can prove that the asymmetry in the distribution of muons from pion decay is a genuine physical effect because the asymmetry can be modified in a controllable manner. A positive result will also prove that the pion is NOT a pseudoscalar particle.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Portrait of the Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis

The honeybees of southern Africa were assessed for expression of the trait, diploid eggs laid by workers, worker ovariole number, spermatheca size, worker size and allozymes of malate dehydrogenase. A m capensis is readily defined in terms of the first 2 of these traits and may further be separated from A m scutellata by a suite of biological characteristics associated with laying worker development and behaviour, queenless cell building, foraging, thermoregulation and docility. The Cape honeybee occurs in the fynbos biome along the southwest and south coasts of South Africa extending into the interior as far as the mountains bordering on the Klein Karoo. From here it hybridizes with A m scutellata to the next mountain ranges near latitude 32 where hybrids fall away. This border is a barrier where there are fundamental differences in topography, climate and vegetation which place the 2 races ecologically totally out phase and ensure the relative stability of A m capensis and A m scutellata as separate races

The volatile emission of honeybee queens (Apis mellifera L)

The volatile compounds released by honeybee queens (Apis mellifera L) were trapped from the vapour phase with an absorbent (Tenax TA) and extracted in hexane. Heads and tergites of these queens were extracted in dichloromethane. After gas chromatography, the chromatograms were statistically analyzed and compared. Seventy-three percent of the compounds in head extracts and 56% of tergal compounds were found in the trapped volatile signal. There were, however, substantial quantitative differences between the actual amounts of individual compounds found in the trap and in head and tergite extracts respectively. For example, little (E)-9-oxodec-2-enoic acid (9-ODA), the classical queen substance and predominant compound of head extracts, was found in the vapour phase. Tergal signals and mandibular gland secretions contributed equally to the total pheromone blend in the volatile signal. Furthermore, compounds not present in either the tergal or head extracts were found

Morphometric analysis of 2 southern African races of honeybee

A suite of 10 morphological characters was identified that discriminated between the 2 southern African honeybee races, Apis mellifera capensis and A m scutellata. Collections of samples from 32 localities which spanned the sub-continent from the west coast to the east coast and ranged from Cape Town in the south to north of Johannesburg were used to define the current distribution of the 2 races and the hybrid zone between them. The data obtained from the morphometric analysis are in good agreement with data on laying worker reproduction

The pheromonal activity of chiral 3‐octanol for Myrmica ants

ABSTRACT. The (R)‐(‐)‐3‐octanol from the mandibular glands of Myrmica ants is the only enantiomer active as an attractant pheromone for M.scabrinodis Nyl. The S enantiomer is inactive and its presence decreases slightly the response of M.scabrinodis to the R enantiomer. (R) and (S)‐2‐octanol are inactive. Copyright © 1985, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reservedSCOPUS: ar.jFLWNAinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Chemical constituents of the chest gland secretion of the thick-tailed galago (Galago crassicaudatus)

The naturally exuded chest gland secretions of adult male and female thick-tailed bush babies were collected directly in capillary tubes. The pure secretion was subjected to GC-MS analysis which revealed three major components. These were identified by comparison with the appropriate standard compounds: benzyl cyanide, p-hydroxybenzyl cyanide, and 2-(p-hydroxyphenyl)ethanol. Analysis of a male and a female secretion indicated that some sexual dimorphism in the relative concentrations of these components may exist. © 1979 Plenum Publishing Corporation.Articl