The drones of dwarf honeybees assemble at the drone congregation areas close to small trees with dense leafage at the heights between 2 to 4 meters

Axel Brockmann

Narayanappa Nagaraja

English

Nature Precedings

Drone congregation areas of red dwarf honeybee, Apis florea 
 
 
 
The drones of dwarf honeybees assemble at the drone congregation areas close to 
small trees with dense leafage at the heights between 2 to 4 meters. 
 
Polyandry, mating males with only one female but females mating with several males is 
rare among insects. Interestingly, queens of honeybee species (Apis) mate with several drones 
possibly from different colonies at the beginning of their lives.  Drones of honeybees are known 
fly to drone congregation areas (DCAs) where they mate with visiting queens¹  However, the 
time of the day the drones perform mating flights and the places and heights at which they 
congregate would varies among honeybee species²,³ . The mating behavior of honeybee species 
is striking. The drones of western honeybee, Apis mellifera congregate in the open air, while its 
eastern counterpart Apis  cerana which gathers in close proximity to the trees4. Similarly, the 
drones of red honeybee, Apis koschevnikovi assemble under the canopy of lower trees³. 
However, the common giant honeybee, Apis dorsata drones5 seem to fly to large prominent trees 
as a landmark for orientation and assemble near or under the branches. Presently it is assumed 
that, the drones and queens of dwarf honeybee species mate at drone congregation areas as it is 
common to Apis species, but attempts to identify these mating places have failed so far¹. 
 
We conducted observations on drone flight activity and drone congregation areas of red dwarf 
honeybee, A. florea in the botanical gardens of the University of Agricultural Sciences, 
Bangalore, India, during March 2007 and again in April 2009.  Prior to the experiments, we 
surveyed the number and location of feral A. florea colonies, inspected the abundance of drone 
brood, and recorded drone flight time. The drone flight activity was determined in five different 
colonies by counting the number of deporting and returning drone bees. The test colonies were 
observed for 3 hrs from 11.00 to 14.00 hrs.  and drone flight activity was recorded for 10 min 
with 30 min interval. We identified the drone attraction sites by presenting pheromone baits, 
(2E)-9-oxodecenoic acid (9-ODA) and (2E)-10-hydroxydecenoic acid (10-HDA)6 purchased 
from Phero Tech Inc (Delta BC, Canada) either on open meadows or close to vegetation (trees 
and bushes) in the vicinity of A. florea nests.. We used cotton wick as pheromone dispensers, 
which were impregnated with 1ml of the respective pheromone solution. The drone attraction 
was tested for different heights ranging from 2 to 6m at several identified locations by lifting the 
baits into the air with a helium filled balloon.  The site at which we attracted a considerable 
number of drones was used later as drone congregation areas. These areas were reconfirmed 
visiting A. florea drones by repeating the experiments again during April 2009. No drones were 
observed at the sites without pheromone presentation.  
 
Our observations show that A. florea drones performed mating flights from late morning (11.30 
hrs) to early afternoon (14.00 hrs), with a peak at noon around 12.30 to 13.00 hrs. of the day 
(Figure 1). The preferential mating flights of drones during mid day hours of the day, possibly 
would be owing to no or least occurrence of bee predators in the vicinity. Obviously the bright 
sunlight is also helpful in detection of the predators if any by the drones and queens in the mating 
sites. Besides, the presence of drones of other Apis species in the vicinity facilitates selection for 
pre-mating isolation through temporal separation7.  Whenever honeybee species co-occur, the 
smaller species mate first³. We found that, the mating flights of A. florea lasted only for 20-30 
minutes which is on par with the flights performed by A. florea in Thailand 8.  The short duration 
of mating flights would be an adaptive strategy against the possible harm by the insect and bird- 
bee predators.  
 
The results of our study show that, the drones of A. florea were attracted to drone congregation 
areas which was close to small trees with dense leafage while presenting the pheromone lures, 9-
ODA and 10-HDA (p<0.001) (Figure 2). This drone congregation area was an open space with a 
diameter of 10-12 meters and has bright sun light. Selection of mating yards with limited open 
space would be an adaptive strategy to deter insect and bird predators in the vicinity. Irrespective 
of pheromone baits presented, at different heights,  the drones were attracted and assembled at 
heights ranging from 2 to 4 meters (p<0.05). This congregation area was reconfirmed visiting 
drones of A. florea even after 3 years (April 2009). Based on our observations, we report the 
mating of A. florea in the drone congregation areas particularly at the lower heights for the first 
time. 
 
Narayanappa Nagaraja¹*, Axel Brockmann² 
 
¹UGC Academic Staff College 
Bangalore University, Central College Campus, Bangalore-560 001, India 
2 Department of Entomology 
Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois, U.S.A 
 
* Corresponding author 
Nagaraja Narayanappa 
email: nagaraja@bub.ernet.in 
phone: +91-80-2296 1274 
fax: +91-080-2321 9295 
 
 
References 
 
1. Koeniger, N. Koeniger, G., Gries, M. & Tingek, S. Drone competition and drone 
congregation areas in four Apis species. Apidologie 36: 211-221 (2005) 
2. Otis, G. W, Koeniger, N, Rinderer, T. E, Hadisoesilo, S, Yoshida, T, Tingek, S, 
Wongsiri,  S, & Mardan M . Comparative mating flight times of Asian honeybees. Proc. 
7 Int. Conf. On tropical bees and 5 AAA, ed. IBRA, pp 137-141(2000). 
3. Koeniger, N. &  Koeniger, G. Reproductive isolation among species of the genus Apis. 
Apidologie 31:313-339 (2000) 
 
4. Punchihewa, P.W. K, Koeniger, N & Koeniger, G.  Congregation of Apis cerana indica 
Fabricius 1798 in the canopy of trees in Sri Lanka. Apidologie 21: 201-208(1990) 
 
5. Koeniger, N, Koeniger, G, Tingek, S, Kelitu, A. &  Mardan, M.  Drones of Apis dorsata 
(Fabricius 1793) congregate under the canopy of tall emergent trees in Borneo. 
Apidologie 25:249-264 (1994) 
 
6. Nararaja, N. & Brockmann, A. Drones of the dwarf honeybee Apis florea are attracted to 
(2E)-9-Oxodecenoic acid and (2E)-10-hydroxydecenoic acid. J. Chem. Ecol. 35: 653-655 
(2009). 
 
7. Oldroyd, B. P & Wongsiri, S. Asian Honey bees. Biology, Conservation and Human 
Interactions. Harvard University Press. Boston Massachusetts, USA (2006). 
 
8. Buawangpang, N. Sukumalanand, P. & Burgett, M. Apis florea drone flight: longevity 
and flight performance, Apidologie 40:20-25 (2009) 
 
 
Legends for Figures 
 
Figure 1 Drone flight time. Columns indicate average numbers of drones (±SD) arriving and 
departing from A. florea nests (N=5) within 10 min.  
 
 
Figure 2 Location of Apis florea colonies and site of drone attraction (drone attraction 
experiments). (A) Map of GKVK Campus and Botanical Garden. (+) sites attracted, (--): sites 
not attracted by an artificial pheromone lure. BG= Botanical Garden, AC= Agriculture College, 
BSH: College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, A: Auditorium, SH: Students Hostel.  
Figure 1 Drone flight time (the error bars give STdev) 
 
 

BG
0 100 m
AG
A
BSH
AB
SH


Apis florea drone flight: longevity and flight performance,

Asian Honey bees. Biology, Conservation and Human Interactions.

Comparative mating flight times of Asian honeybees.

Congregation of Apis cerana indica Fabricius 1798 in the canopy of trees in Sri Lanka.

Drone competition and drone congregation areas in four Apis species.

Drones of Apis dorsata (Fabricius 1793) congregate under the canopy of tall emergent trees in Borneo. Apidologie

Drones of the dwarf honeybee Apis florea are attracted to (2E)-9-Oxodecenoic acid and (2E)-10-hydroxydecenoic acid.

Reproductive isolation among species of the genus Apis. Apidologie

Drone congregation areas of red dwarf honeybee, Apis florea

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Drone congregation areas of red dwarf honeybee, Apis florea

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