Category: Honeybee

I see you: Honey bees use contagious and honest visual signal to deter attacking hornets

March 12, 2021

Study is the first to demonstrate a contagious warning signal that resists fake news in social insects. An Asian hornet sets its sights on a busy honey bee hive. If all goes according to plan, the hornet’s attack will result in a haul of bee larvae, precious nourishment to pilfer and feed to its own … More I see you: Honey bees use contagious and honest visual signal to deter attacking hornets

Pesticide manufacturers’ own tests reveal serious harm to honeybees.

February 6, 2021

Bayer and Syngenta criticised for secrecy after unpublished research obtained under freedom of information law linked high doses of their products to damage to the health of bee colonies. Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies … More Pesticide manufacturers’ own tests reveal serious harm to honeybees.

Honey bees fend off giant hornets with animal feces.

February 3, 2021

What’s the best way to ward off giant hornets if you’re a honeybee? Animal dung, according to a first-ever University of Guelph study. U of G researchers have discovered honeybees in Vietnam collect and apply spots of animal dung around hive entrances to deter deadly nest raids by an Asian hornet (Vespa soror) whose North American … More Honey bees fend off giant hornets with animal feces.

Honeybee dance dialects.

November 29, 2020

After more than 70 years, a great mystery of zoology has been solved: Honeybees actually use different dance dialects in their waggle dance. Which dialect has developed during evolution is related to the radius of action in which they collect food around the hive. This is reported by research teams from the Bio-center of Julius-Maximilians-Universität … More Honeybee dance dialects.

World’s largest bee, missing for 38 years, found alive in Indonesia.

May 22, 2020

Biologists discover single female Wallace’s giant bee inside a termites’ nest in a tree. As long as an adult thumb, with jaws like a stag beetle and four times larger than a honeybee, Wallace’s giant bee is not exactly inconspicuous. But after going missing, feared extinct, for 38 years, the world’s largest bee has been rediscovered alive and well on the Indonesian … More World’s largest bee, missing for 38 years, found alive in Indonesia.

Technology tracks ‘bee talk’ to help improve honey bee health.

April 17, 2020

Simon Fraser University graduate student Oldooz Pooyanfar is monitoring what more than 20,000 honeybees housed in hives in a Cloverdale field are “saying” to each other — looking for clues about their health. Pooyanfar’s technology is gleaning communication details from sound within the hives with her beehive monitoring system — technology she developed at SFU. … More Technology tracks ‘bee talk’ to help improve honey bee health.