LARVAL REARING BY WORKER HONEY BEES LACKING THEIR MANDIBULAR GLANDS: II. REARING BY LARGER NUMBERS OF WORKER BEES
AbstractFurther experiments were done in an attempt to ascertain the significance of the mandibular glands of nurse bees in female caste differentiation. Groups of 200, 10-day-old nurse bees, with their mandibular glands removed, fed female larvae for 80 h in plastic queen cell cups in the laboratory. After this, each larva finished feeding in a 4-day-old queen cell containing "royal jelly"; final development occurred in an artificial pupation dish. Because four adults, classified as "queenlike intermediates," were reared it appears that (1) mandibular gland secretion is less important as a larval food than that of the hypopharyngeal glands, and (2) if a "queen determining substance" exists the mandibular glands are not its only source.