Complex social waves of giant honeybees provoked by a dummy wasp support the special-agent hypothesis

Commun Integr Biol. 2010 Mar;3(2):179-80. doi: 10.4161/cib.3.2.10809.

Abstract

The social waves in giant honeybees termed as shimmering are more complex than mexican waves. it has been demonstrated1 that shimmering is triggered by special agents at the nest surface. in this paper, we have used a nest that originated by amalgamation of two previously separated nests and stimulated waves by a dummy wasp moved on a miniature cable car. we illustrate the plausibility of the special-agent hypothesis1 also for complex shimmering processes.

Keywords: Apis dorsata; Giant honeybee; colony defense; communication; defense waves; shimmering.