A new study has examined how two tropical Asian honey bee species differ in the pace at which their workers transition from nest duties to foraging and what this reveals about the biology of honey bees more broadly.

The study, ‘Variation in behavioural maturation in tropical honey bees corresponds with hormonal and molecular differences’, was led by Sruthi Unnikrishnan from the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS). It compares behavioural maturation in two tropical Asian honey bee species, the open-nesting Apis fl orea and the cavity-nesting Apis cerana, examining how workers transition from nest tasks to foraging.

According to CWS, the study highlights that workers of A. cerana show a faster and more uniform pace of behavioural maturation compared to A. fl orea, suggesting that accelerated development is a derived trait linked to cavity-nesting behaviour.

“Even closely related honey bee species do not all organise their societies in the same way. We found that tropical Asian honey bees follow familiar biological rules in some respects, but also show surprising differences that remind us how much there is still to learn,” Dr. Sruthi said.

CWS said that at the molecular level, the study found that the hormones and biological signals that trigger foraging behaviour followed similar patterns in both species, closely mirroring those seen in A. mellifera, suggesting these mechanisms are shared across honey bee species.

However, vitellogenin, a protein typically found at higher levels in nurse bees in A. mellifera and linked to the regulation of behavioural maturation, did not show the same clear patterns in either tropical species.

“Notably, A. fl orea workers consistently showed far higher levels of this protein than A. cerana workers across all experiments,” it said.

Axel Brockmann, from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and co-author, said that, “Asian honey bee research is crucial for India’s food systems and biodiversity because these species pollinate many crops and wild plants. Comparative studies also offer global insights into how honey bees may respond to future climate change.”

CWS said that the findings of this study show us the value of comparative studies across honey bee species. Asian honey bees play a vital role in pollination across tropical Asia, yet remain far less studied than their European counterparts.

The other co-authors of the study are Deepika Bais from the University of Kassel, Germany, Ashwin Suryanarayanan from University of Liverpool, UK, and Aridni Shah from NCBS.