Glossary
A chemical signal released by bees that triggers behavioral or physiological responses in other colony members. Honey bees use pheromones for colony communication, including queen recognition, alarm signaling, brood care regulation, and forager recruitment.
Inside a dark hive containing 50,000 individuals, visual communication is nearly useless. Bees run the colony through chemistry. Pheromones, chemical compounds produced by glands and perceived by the antennae and other sensory organs of nestmates, coordinate virtually every aspect of colony behavior: who feeds the queen, how many foragers to deploy, when to raise a new queen, and whether to attack an intruder.
The queen's mandibular glands produce a complex blend of compounds collectively called Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP). This pheromone, distributed throughout the colony through physical contact (bees touch the queen and spread her scent to others through subsequent contacts), signals "the queen is present, healthy, and laying." It suppresses worker ovary development, prevents swarming impulse, and organizes the colony's social structure around her. When QMP diminishes (aging queen, dead queen), the absence triggers emergency queen rearing and allows worker ovaries to develop.
When a guard bee stings or identifies a threat, she releases isopentyl acetate (a banana-scented compound) from her sting chamber. This alarm pheromone recruits additional defenders and marks the target for attack. This is why experienced beekeepers avoid crushing bees during inspections; a crushed bee releases alarm pheromone that can escalate the defensive response. Smoke works partly by masking alarm pheromone, keeping the colony calmer during inspections.
Workers expose a gland at the tip of their abdomen (the Nasonov gland) and fan their wings to disperse a citrusy, lemony scent that says "come here." Nasonov pheromone is used to guide lost bees back to the hive entrance, to mark the entrance of a new home during swarming, and to direct bees toward a productive food source. Lemongrass essential oil mimics this pheromone, which is why it works as a swarm lure.
Researchers have identified at least 15 distinct pheromone compounds produced by honey bees, each serving different communication purposes. The actual number may be higher, as new compounds and their functions continue to be discovered through ongoing research.
Yes. Smoke particles interfere with the bees' ability to detect alarm pheromone (isopentyl acetate), reducing the defensive cascade that occurs during hive inspections. This is one of the primary reasons beekeepers use smokers.
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