QUEEN SUBSTITUTES FOR SMALL POLLINATION COLONIES OF THE HONEY-BEE, APIS-MELLIFERA (HYMENOPTERA, APIDAE)

Ethanol extracts of egg-laying queens, extracts of unmated queens, and a mixture of four synthetic components of the queen mandibular pheromone were tested as queen substitutes. Worker bees were attracted to the extracts of fertile queens and to the synthetic mixture, but complete inhibition of queen rearing occurred with the extracts. However, the extracts of reproducing queens and the synthetic mixture and, with slightly lower efficiency, also the extract of virgin queens proved to be suitable queen substitutes in trials with queenless bee colonies, used for pollination in greenhouses.