No evidence for male attraction to cephalic labial gland pheromones in Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Danielle Claudia Allam, Manuela Carnaghi, G Mandela Fernández-Grandon, Marina P Arbetman, Mark J F Brown, Kevin Cloonan · 2026
Read No evidence for male attraction to cephalic labial gland pheromones in Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) by Danielle Claudia Allam, Manuela Carnaghi, G Mandela Fernández-Grandon, Marina P Arbetman, Mark J F Brown, Kevin Cloonan (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13192346.txt.
Description
Allam and five co-authors present a study from twenty twenty-six on whether male bumblebees are drawn to male scent signals. The bee species is a major invader outside its home range, harming native pollinators. Males secrete pheromones used in mating talk. Queens are known to respond to those scents, but male responses were unknown. If males were drawn too, scents could bait traps for control. The team offer males a choice in a Y-tube between pheromone extract and a control. Males respond to a lavender oil positive control as expected.
Males show no pull toward the pheromone extracts in the setup. Dose, age, or tube design may sway the null result, the authors note. The findings inform future trap and assay design for this bee.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Danielle Claudia Allam, Manuela Carnaghi, G Mandela Fernández-Grandon, Marina P Arbetman, Mark J F Brown, Kevin Cloonan |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 22 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |