title: Sensing the intruder: a quantitative threshold for recognition cues perception in honeybees.
abstract: The ability to discriminate among nestmates and non-nestmate is essential to defend social insect colonies from intruders. Over the years, nestmate recognition has been extensively studied in the honeybee Apis mellifera; nevertheless, the quantitative perceptual aspects at the basis of the recognition system represent an unexplored subject in this species. To test the existence of a cuticular hydrocarbons' quantitative perception threshold for nestmate recognition cues, we conducted behavioural assays by presenting different amounts of a foreign forager's chemical profile to honeybees at the entrance of their colonies. We found an increase in the explorative and aggressive responses as the amount of cues increased based on a threshold mechanism, highlighting the importance of the quantitative perceptual features for the recognition processes in A. mellifera.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy, federico.cappa@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cappa
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bruschini
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cipollini
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pieraccini
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cervo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*