VALERIA RADULESCU1*, CRINA SAVIUC2, CARMEN CHIFIRIUC2, ELIZA OPREA3, DIANA CAROLINA ILIES1, LUMINITA MARUTESCU2, VERONICA LAZAR2 1University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Organic Chemistry, 6 Traian Vuia, 020956, Bucharest, Romania 2University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Portocalelor Al., 060101, Buchares...

We investigated worker policing by egg eating in the ponerine ant Pachycondyla inversa, a species with morphologically distinct queens and workers. Colonies were split into one half with the queen and one half without. Workers in queenless colony fragments started laying unfertilized male eggs after three weeks. Worker-laid eggs and queen-laid eggs were introduced into five other queenright col...

Physogastric queens of Melipona marginata were removed from their colonies in order to verify the acceptance of a new queen by workers. Colony strength was evaluated according to queen oviposition rate and comb diameters. Replacement was observed seven times. Its occurrence and speed related positively to colony strength, independently of queen's age. In weak colonies, queen replacement was obs...

Arwˆ bint Aúmad (d. 532/1137) ruled in Yemen for Ž fty-Ž ve years. She played an important political role and at the same time occupied the highest rank in the Ismˆ’“l“ religious hierarchy after that of the imam. Her religious policies, particularly her special relations with the Fatimids, led to the transfer of the Fatimid literary legacy to Yemen, and hence to its preservation following the f...

The Mexican Sheartail (Doricha eliza), an endangered hummingbird, is endemic to Mexico where two populations have a disjunct distribution. One population is distributed along the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula whereas the other is mostly restricted to central Veracruz. Despite their disjunct distribution, previous work has failed to detect morphological or behavioral differences between ...

Honeybees are endowed with pheromones, many of which exhibit caste specific composition, one of which is Dufour’s gland pheromone (QDP). The queen possesses long chain esters that are absent in queenright (QR) workers. However queenless (QL) workers that develop ovaries also express these queen substances. The ability of QL-workers to produce the queen-like compounds suggests that under normal ...