Ontogeny of tasks in colonies of the Asian Honeybee, Apis cerana

Honeybees are eusocial organisms and exhibit division of labor. The European honeybee, Apis mellifera, has been extensively studied, but the sister species, the Asian honeybee Apis cerana, remains relatively less studied. The two species, though similar in their colony organization, have evolved in different habitats with distinct resource availability, which could have led to different task allocation patterns in the two species. This study explores the task allocation among A. cerana workers performing within-hive activities as well as foraging. A. cerana workers were tagged with colored number tags, and their activity was monitored by video recording. The study indicates that task allocation among workers of A. cerana is less strict than that of A. mellifera. Unlike in A. mellifera, foragers of A. cerana continue to perform in-hive activities like comb-building. Resource specialization among A. cerana foragers is the same as that of A. mellifera. The differences in task allocation among foragers in the two species could arise due to multiple factors such as juvenile hormone levels and colony size, which remain to be studied in further detail.