تتابع عمليات السلوك الصحي لشغالات نحل العسل الكرنيولي (Apis mellifera carnica) THE SEQUENCES OF THE HYGIENIC BEHAVIOR PROCESS OF CARNIOLAN WORKER HONEY BEES (Apis mellifera carnica).

تتابع عمليات السلوك الصحي لشغالات نحل العسل الكرنيولي

  (Apis mellifera carnica) THE SEQUENCES OF THE HYGIENIC BEHAVIOR PROCESS OF
K.P.GRAMACHO and L.S.GONÇALVES

السلوك الصحي ( HB) في جنس Apis mellifera يتكون من التخلص من المرض, والحضنة المجروحة والميتة لطائفة النحل بواسطة الشغالات (Rothenbuhler, 1964 a,b, Gonçalves & Kerr, 1970, Message, 1979) , وهذا السلوك يعرف أيضا بإزالة أي أشياء غريبة يتم إكتشافها بواسطة الشغالات داخل الخلية (Message,1979),  Moretto (1993) أيضا قام بتعريف مفهوم السلوك الصحي للشغالات بأنه يشمل أيضا إزاحة وإزالة حلم الفاروا للخارج في العيون السداسية المصابة.

The hygienic behavior (HB) in Apis mellifera consists of the removal of sick, injured or dead brood of the beehive by the workers (Rothenbuhler, 1964 a,b, Gonçalves & Kerr, 1970, Message, 1979). This behavior is also defined as the remotion of any strange material found by the workers inside of the colony (Message,1979). Moretto (1993) introduced also the concept hygienic behavior for the workers that removes the mites out of the infested brood cells. This HB is the  highest importance in the dynamic of population of these bees because it can avoid or hinder the development of brood diseases, being considered the primary defense of honeybees against American Foulbrood, European Foulbrood, Chalk brood and Varroose (Park et al,1937; Woodrow & Host, 1942, Rothenbuhler, 1964a,b; Gilliam et al., 1983 and Spivak & Reuter, 1998). According to Rothenbuhler (1964 a,b) the HB is controlled genetically by two pairs of recessive genes (u = uncapping and r = remover) which, as homozygous, allow the bees to identify the sick, killed or infested brood inside the capped cells and then to uncap the cell and remove the brood. It is known that the HB has a great variability and is highly influenced by climatic conditions as humidity, temperature as well as the conditions of the hive (Message, 1979, Message & Gonçalves, 1984 a,b; Gramacho & Gonçalves, 1996; Gramacho, Gonçalves & Rosenkranz, 1998). Message (1979) observed that the HB of the bees is accomplished by three steps instead of two: perforation in which the bees make one or two small holes in the capped cell, the uncapping and removal of the brood. However, Milne (1985 a) analyzed this behavior later on and concluded that the perforation would be related to uncapping and concluded that the HB is controlled for just two pairs of genes. Moritz (1988) made a reevaluation of the two-locus model for hygienic behavior in honey bees and mentioned that the genetic mechanism could be more complex. He proposed a model of 3 loci in which one pair of genes (u = uncapping) as homozygous would be responsible for the uncapping of the cell and 2 pairs (r1 and r2 = removers) would be responsible for the removal of the brood. However, this hypothesis was not still proven. Kefuss et al (1996) believe that the CH is controlled by 20 to 30 genes. However, they consider that this behavior needs do be better studied. Then, in spite of the unquestionable scientific contribution of Rothenbuhler (1964 a,b) and of a series of other works done by his followers, unfortunately still it is not clear how many genes are involved in this mechanisms, neither how the hygienic bees accomplish the steps involved in the HB and which factors would be involved in this complex process. Normally the experiments done on HB only present the final results of the removal of brood in order to classify the colony

as hygienic or not but they do not inform about the steps involved in such behavior. The objective of the present work was to study the steps or sequences of the hygienic behavior process of worker honey bees.