Phylogenomics Resolves Evolutionary Relationships among Ants,Bees, and Wasps

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American Social Insects. A Book about Bees, Ants, Wasps, and Termites. Charles D. Michener and Mary H. Michener

Beiträge zur Gesellungs und Völkerwissenschaft . Prof. Dr. Richard Thurnwald zu seinem achtzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet.
Chippewa Child Life and Its Cultural Background . Sister M. Inez Hilger.
The Wolf Ritual of the Northwest Coast . Alice Henson Ernst.
The Sandpaintings of the Kayenta Navaho , Leland C.
Three Navaho Households: A Comparative Study of Small Group Culture . John M. Roberts.
Falasha Anthology , translated from Ethiopic Sources with an Introduction. Wolf Leslau.
Marriage and the Family in Caucasia . Louis J. Luzbetak, S.V.D.
The Persian Language . Reuben Levy.
Race-Relations in Ancient Egypt: Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew, Roman . S. Davis.
Paleontology and Modern Biology . D. M. S. Watson.     

The Effects of a Low-Frequency Electric Field on Recombinant Luciferase Activity

Biophysics - Studies on the effects of an electromagnetic field on the activity of recombinant luciferase in the luciferase–luciferin–ATP-Mg2+ system were conducted. The enzymatic...     

Recruitment, Search Behavior, and Flight Ranges of Honey Bees

During the past three decades, considerable evidence has beengathered in attempts to understand more fully honey bee recruitmentto food sources. Those efforts also apply directly to two long-standingand competing recruitment hypotheses: odor search vs. "dancelanguage" communication. However, whereas most researchers havefocused on individual interactions and behavior, the colonycan also be viewed as a unit. A review of evidence from a colonyperspective reveals that colony members range an average distancefrom their home base, whether while foraging on food sources,while collecting water, or while relocating as swarms. Thoseaverages, based on the logarithm of the distance from the colony,vary with the type of resource exploited and size of the odorfield. Such a mathematical correspondence between distancestravelled from parent colonies may well agree with an odorsearchrecruitment model, but is hardly reconcilable with the "dancelanguage" hypothesis.     

PCR Amplification of a Locus with RFLP Alleles Specific to African Honey Bees

An anonymous honey bee locus, detectedpreviously with a cloned probe, has HhaI RFLP allelesspecific to African bees or common to both African andEuropean bees. To facilitate identification of thesealleles, this region, 1231, was made analyzable with thePCR. The two halves of the region, excluding thetermini, were amplified as two overlapping segments.Restriction sites were mapped, and the site differences responsible for the allelic RFLP patterns weredetermined. In the first half of the region, twopolymorphic HhaI sites are present in the commonalleles, whereas one, the other, or both of the sitesare absent in the African alleles. In the secondhalf, a third polymorphic HhaI site is present or absentin both common and African alleles. A short part of thesecond half of the region, including more of the terminus, was amplified as a third segment.Within this segment, close to this terminus, a fourthpolymorphic HhaI site is absent in some Africanalleles.     

Influence of the Orientation of Nest Entrance, Shading, and Substrate on Sampling Trap-Nesting Bees and Wasps

The use of trap nests supplies important biological information concerning the biology of bees and wasps. However, the knowledge about the factors that influence the management of these groups is still scarce. Our study aimed to analyze the effects of the orientation of nest entrance, shading, and block material (wood or vermiculite) on the frequency, richness, and composition of trap-nesting species at two agricultural areas in the Atlantic Forest region of the state of Paraiba. Both sites showed similar species richness and composition. However, a higher number of nests was found at the Alhandra site, mainly of the species Trypoxylon aurifrons Shuckard and Centris analis (F.). Regarding the orientation, the number of nest entrances oriented to prevailing wind direction was significantly smaller. Most species nested more frequently in shaded areas than in sunny areas and the wood blocks were more attractive than the vermiculite blocks, especially for bees.     

Electrical Potentials Indicate Stimulus Expectancy in the Brains of Ants and Bees

In vertebrates, and in humans in particular, so-called omitted stimulus potentials can be electrically recorded from the brain or scalp upon repeated stimulation with simple stimuli such as light flashes.While standard evoked potentials follow each stimulus in a series, omitted stimulus potentials occur when an additional stimulus is expected after the end of a stimulus series. These potentials represent neuronal plasticity and are assumed to be involved in basic cognitive processes.We recorded electroretinograms from the eyes and visually evoked potentials from central brain areas of honey bees and ants, social insects to which cognitive abilities have been ascribed and whose rich-behavioral repertoires include navigation, learning and memory.We demonstrate that omitted stimulus potentials occur in these insects. Omitted stimulus potentials in bees and ants show similar temporal characteristics to those found in crayfish and vertebrates, suggesting that common mechanisms may underlie this form of short-term neuronal plasticity.     

Host-Parasite Interactions and Purifying Selection in a Microsporidian Parasite of Honey Bees

To clarify the mechanisms of Nosema ceranae parasitism, we deep-sequenced both honey bee host and parasite mRNAs throughout a complete 6-day infection cycle. By time-series analysis, 1122 parasite genes were significantly differently expressed during the reproduction cycle, clustering into 4 expression patterns. We found reactive mitochondrial oxygen species modulator 1 of the host to be significantly down regulated during the entire infection period. Our data support the hypothesis that apoptosis of honey bee cells was suppressed during infection. We further analyzed genome-wide genetic diversity of this parasite by comparing samples collected from the same site in 2007 and 2013. The number of SNP positions per gene and the proportion of non-synonymous substitutions per gene were significantly reduced over this time period, suggesting purifying selection on the parasite genome and supporting the hypothesis that a subset of N. ceranae strains might be dominating infection.     

Static Electricity in the Spatial Orientation and Signaling of Honey Bees

A static electric charge that foraging bees gain by rubbing their body parts against the substrate surface plays a role in social communication of bees. Vibrations of the charged body of a forager with a frequency of approximately 14 Hz indicate the location of the forager bee in a rich variety of bees within a poorly lit nest. The perception of vibrations of the charged ventral body surface of a forager occurs due to the antennal sensory organs of hive mates. An electric charge produced as the foraging bee moves its wings enhances vibrations of the trichoid sensilla, which act as mechanoreceptors. This provides reliable communication between foraging bees and their hive mates.