Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
If you use a nasonov pheromone lure, swarms are attracted solely on the basis of
this lure. Old comb and remnant hive odours are not important.
Research has shown that odours from substances not of bee origin are neither attractive
nor repellent to swarms. The same research demonstrated that odours from bee
diseases were similarly neither attractive nor repellent. Beekeepers who employ other
attractant substances are, therefore, basing their swarm-attracting, methods more on
luck than judgement.
Nasonov pheromone
Nasonov pheromone is named after the nasonov gland on the bee. This pheromone is
used by bees as a signal to other bees that says 'we are here - this is where the nest is.
Come on in'. Often, after an inspection or when you have just hived a swarm, you will
see bees standing at the entrance with their rear ends facing you, fanning their wings. If
you look closer you will see a small white patch near the bee's rear-end between seventh
tergite, or segment. This is the gland from where the pheromone originates, and the
bees are wafting it into the air as a signal to the others. It is also employed to orientate
returning forager bees back to the colony.
This pheromone includes a number of different terpenoids, including geraniol, nerolic
acid, citral and geranic acid. Bees use these to find the entrance to their colony or hive,
and they may also release them onto flowers so that the other bees know which flowers
have nectar. The amount of time they expose their gland seems to depend on reward
expectations, the bees having acquired this information on previous foraging visits to
the food source. In other words, if they expect a great deal of nectar, they will expose
their glands for longer, even though on the current foraging trip the nectar reward is
lower.
A synthetically produced nasonov pheromone can be used to attract a honey-bee
swarm to an unoccupied hive or to a swarm-catching box. Synthetically produced
nasonov consists of citral and geraniol in a ratio of 2:1. There has been much research
in the USA on employing other honey-bee pheromones, such as the queen mandibular
pheromone, to attract swarms more effectively and for making swarm lures.
