Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793

Hornets (Vespa affinis) flying in a drone congregation area attracted drones of Apis cerana. The drones followed the hornet and were ‘manoeuvred’ towards a leaf or a tree. The hornet then rushed at one of the drones. Many attempts by the hornet to catch a drone were unsuccessful and all drones fled....

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Main Authors: Koeniger, Nikolaus, Koeniger, Gudrun, Mardan, Makhdzir
Format: Article
Published: 1994
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116629/
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author Koeniger, Nikolaus
Koeniger, Gudrun
Mardan, Makhdzir
author_facet Koeniger, Nikolaus
Koeniger, Gudrun
Mardan, Makhdzir
author_sort Koeniger, Nikolaus
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Hornets (Vespa affinis) flying in a drone congregation area attracted drones of Apis cerana. The drones followed the hornet and were ‘manoeuvred’ towards a leaf or a tree. The hornet then rushed at one of the drones. Many attempts by the hornet to catch a drone were unsuccessful and all drones fled. After failing, the hornet returned to centre of the drone congregation area and repeated the behaviour. Only after successfully seizing of a drone did the hornet leave the drone congregation area carrying its prey. In a two‐choice test in the centre of the drone congregation area, free‐flying A. cerana drones preferred a hornet model to a live A. cerana queen. V. affinis apparently ‘exploits’ the intraspecific communication between queen and drones of A. cerana. Hunting of drones in the drone congregation area by V. affinis may be an example of predatory mimicry. 1994 Blackwell Verlag GmbH
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format Article
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institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T14:30:22Z
publishDate 1994
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-1166292025-04-15T08:36:29Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116629/ Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793 Koeniger, Nikolaus Koeniger, Gudrun Mardan, Makhdzir Hornets (Vespa affinis) flying in a drone congregation area attracted drones of Apis cerana. The drones followed the hornet and were ‘manoeuvred’ towards a leaf or a tree. The hornet then rushed at one of the drones. Many attempts by the hornet to catch a drone were unsuccessful and all drones fled. After failing, the hornet returned to centre of the drone congregation area and repeated the behaviour. Only after successfully seizing of a drone did the hornet leave the drone congregation area carrying its prey. In a two‐choice test in the centre of the drone congregation area, free‐flying A. cerana drones preferred a hornet model to a live A. cerana queen. V. affinis apparently ‘exploits’ the intraspecific communication between queen and drones of A. cerana. Hunting of drones in the drone congregation area by V. affinis may be an example of predatory mimicry. 1994 Blackwell Verlag GmbH 1994 Article PeerReviewed Koeniger, Nikolaus and Koeniger, Gudrun and Mardan, Makhdzir (1994) Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793. Ethology, 98 (2). pp. 149-153. ISSN 0179-1613; eISSN: 1439-0310 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01065.x 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01065.x
spellingShingle Koeniger, Nikolaus
Koeniger, Gudrun
Mardan, Makhdzir
Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title_full Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title_fullStr Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title_full_unstemmed Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title_short Mimicking a honeybee queen?Vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of Apis cerana f. 1793
title_sort mimicking a honeybee queen?vespa affinis indosinensis pérez 1910 hunts drones of apis cerana f. 1793
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116629/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116629/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116629/