Assessing the defensive behaviour of Apis mellifera scutellata in its native range reveals its variability, organization and persistence
- 1University of Konstanz
Abstract
Colony defence is critical for the survival of wild honeybees but presents a challenge for local populations and beekeepers. Apis mellifera scutellata is an important pollinator in its native range, a large area of Southern and Eastern Africa 1, but is reputed for its explosive temperament. Here, we present data demonstrating that this behaviour is only exhibited by a small fraction of colonies, while others are relatively docile. This sheds new light on this subspecies and on its likely evolutionary trajectory. We further characterize the different elements of this defensive response and compare them to that of A. m. carnica and A. m. mellifera. We show that each subspecies invests differently in the two steps of the behavioural sequence (alert and attack). Furthermore, our results suggest that the task of attacking is carried out by specialized workers in carnica, but not in the other subspecies tested, highlighting subtle differences in colony organization across subspecies. Finally, we discovered that defenders from A. m. scutellata and scutellata-hybrid colonies can locate a target that was stung up to 2 h and 3 h earlier, respectively, whereas European bees could only do so for 30 min. This long-term marking could confer an advantage against returning predators with few weak points, such as honey badgers and humans wearing protective clothing. Overall, we offer a fresh perspective on this controversial but important subspecies of honeybees, with implications for both future studies and daily management.
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BibTeX
@misc{ramirezmoreno2026assessing,
title = {{Assessing the defensive behaviour of Apis mellifera scutellata in its native range reveals its variability, organization and persistence}},
author = {D. M. Ramirez-Moreno and M. Fritzler and A.-K. Pohle and K. Kannan and E. Lippman and J. C. Nieh and K. Balkwill and M. Nouvian},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.30.755645},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755645v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Assessing the defensive behaviour of Apis mellifera scutellata in its native range reveals its variability, organization and persistence
AU - D. M. Ramirez-Moreno
AU - M. Fritzler
AU - A.-K. Pohle
AU - K. Kannan
AU - E. Lippman
AU - J. C. Nieh
AU - K. Balkwill
AU - M. Nouvian
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.30.755645
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755645v1
AB - Colony defence is critical for the survival of wild honeybees but presents a challenge for local populations and beekeepers. Apis mellifera scutellata is an important pollinator in its native range, a large area of Southern and Eastern Africa 1, but is reputed for its explosive temperament. Here, we present data demonstrating that this behaviour is only exhibited by a small fraction of colonies, while others are relatively docile. This sheds new light on this subspecies and on its likely evolutionary trajectory. We further characterize the different elements of this defensive response and compare them to that of A. m. carnica and A. m. mellifera. We show that each subspecies invests differently in the two steps of the behavioural sequence (alert and attack). Furthermore, our results suggest that the task of attacking is carried out by specialized workers in carnica, but not in the other subspecies tested, highlighting subtle differences in colony organization across subspecies. Finally, we discovered that defenders from A. m. scutellata and scutellata-hybrid colonies can locate a target that was stung up to 2 h and 3 h earlier, respectively, whereas European bees could only do so for 30 min. This long-term marking could confer an advantage against returning predators with few weak points, such as honey badgers and humans wearing protective clothing. Overall, we offer a fresh perspective on this controversial but important subspecies of honeybees, with implications for both future studies and daily management.
ER -