During copulation, males of Bombus terrestris fill the queen's sexual tract with a mating plug after transferring their sperm. The sticky secretion is produced by the male's accessory glands and disappears within a couple of days. Experiments now show that the primary function of the plug is to reduce the subsequent mating probability of the queen. The plug is not efficient in preventing sperm ...

This work tested whether or not populations of Bombus brasiliensis isolated on mountain tops of southeastern Brazil belonged to the same species as populations widespread in lowland areas in the Atlantic coast and westward along the Paraná-river valley. Phylogeographic and population genetic analyses showed that those populations were all conspecific. However, they revealed a previously unrecog...

Kin selection theory predicts conflict in social Hymenoptera between the queen and workers over male parentage because each party is more closely related to its own male offspring. Some aspects of the reproductive biology of the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris support kin selection theory but others arguably do not. We present a novel hypothesis for how conflict over male parentage should unfold i...

BACKGROUND In addition to their general role in the hydrolysis of storage lipids, bumblebee lipases can participate in the biosynthesis of fatty acids that serve as precursors of pheromones used for sexual communication. RESULTS We studied the temporal dynamics of lipolytic activity in crude extracts from the cephalic part of Bombus terrestris labial glands. Extracts from 3-day-old males disp...