A team of researchers discovered that honeybees have the inside story on hive safety and security.
The University of Guelph group checked 72 Vietnam-based beekeepers in August –– a time when murder hornets regularly attack honeybee hives. The murder hornets (Vespa soror and also Vespa velutina) chew at the hive entries, and go after and also eliminate the honeybees. The remaining colony then deserts the hive, and the hornets lug away the brood that is left.
5 of the studied hives held Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). The various other hives held swarms of Eastern honeybees (Apis cerana). The University of Guelph research team found that after the strikes, employee bees of the Eastern swarms began collecting pet dung. The bees brought it to the hive as well as positioned it on and near the entries of the hives. Nests that developed these poo pens seemed struck less often.
Western honeybees did not appear to have the same tactics as their Eastern relatives, likely since Eastern honeybees have actually progressed into the use of this protective technique. Because the murder hornets have taken a trip to The United States and Canada, A. mellifera may find out similar methods to safeguard themselves.
Entomologists in Washington damaged a murder hornet nest that held around 200 queens. Each of which would certainly have grown and produced their own nests in other places. Beekeepers can keep in mind of the practice and experiment with dung applications in their very own apiaries. For extra on the study, published in PLOS One, and also to see images of murder hornets as well as the dung-collecting honeybees, click here.
