A series of photographs of a Japanese honey bee guard bee Apis cerana japonica (left) stinging a Japanese pavement ant Tetramorium tsushimae. The bee on the left side of the photo positions its body towards the ant (a, b). The bee then rotates its body as it flaps its wings to strike the ant (c, d). The slapped ant leaves (e, f). Coincidentally, the bee on the right positions its body toward another ant in (c–e), then rotates its body and is halfway hitting the ant in (f). Credit: Ecology (2024). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4372
A trio of environmental specialists at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan have discovered that Japanese bees sometimes use their wings to slap ants to prevent them from entering their nest.
In their study, published in the journal EcologyYugo Seko, Kiyohito Morii and Yoshiko Sakamoto filmed a beehive using high-speed cameras and then analyzed the results in slow motion.
Asian bees, known in Japan as Japanese bees, are known for their multi-pronged approach to guarding their nest. Previous research has shown that they use wing-beating to ward off pests, flashing to confuse predators and stingers to injure them – they also sometimes form into balls to kill intruders with body heat. Some have even been found to build walls made of animal droppings to ward off pests and predators.
In this new effort, the researchers found yet another way bees repel small would-be invaders, like ants—they hit them as hard as possible with one or both wings.
In the video, the researchers could see that a guard bee had a slap in the face when it approached a small ant. Not only would he pick up his pace as he moved for a slap, but he would also lean back and turn, somewhat like a tennis player finishing for a very difficult return. And then, she would hit the ant so hard that the much smaller creature would fly headlong into the air, out of the nest, and down to the ground below.
The researchers also noted that the wing beat was not always successful—sometimes the bee missed the ant, though more often the ant simply froze, apparently unable to figure out how to proceed. That would leave him open to another slap or some flapping of the wings to dislodge him from the nest.
The research team noted that the bees sometimes tried to remove the larger ants from the nest, but were much less successful than with the smaller ants. They suggest that bees may have adopted the wing beat because it requires less energy than flapping the wings.
More information:
Yugo Seko et al, Wing flapping: A defensive behavior by honey bees against ants, Ecology (2024). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4372
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citation: Japanese honeybees strike nest-invading ants with their wings to knock them out (2024, July 17) retrieved July 17, 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-07-japanese-honeybees-invading-ants -wings. html
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