Functional response of the hypopharyngeal glands to a social parasitism challenge in Southern African honey bee subspecies

Abstract

Hypopharyngeal gland (HPG) development in honey bee workers is primarily age-dependent and changes according to the tasks performed in the colony. HPG activity also depends on colony requirements and is flexible in relation to the need for feeding brood. Very little is known about HPG development in the honey bee subspecies found in Southern Africa. We examined HPG development in Apis mellifera scutellata and A. m. capensis, including A. m. scutellata colonies infested with an invasive parasitic clonal lineage of A. m. capensis known to manipulate food provisioning to the parasitic larvae by their A.m. scutellata hosts, under natural in-hive conditions in bees aged 0 to 14 days using light microscopy. We found marked differences in acini size (berry-like clusters of secretory cells) and the age at which maximum HPG development occurred between the subspecies and in the presence of the parasite. In A. m. scutellata workers, acini reached maximum size at 6 days. The acini of A. m. capensis workers were larger (up to double) than those of A. m. scutellata and reached maximum size at 8 days, while the HPG acini in A. m. scutellata workers infested with A. m. capensis clones reached development sizes similar to those of A. m. capensis at day 10 and were 1.5 times larger than those of uninfested A. m. scutellata. This provides foundational insights into a functional response affecting the development of the HPG most likely associated with brood pheromone composition and how this is altered in the presence of a social parasite.