Phylogenetic Conditionality of Acoustic Signaling Diversity in Honey Bee Related to the Development of Sociality

Abstract

Patterns of the development of acoustic signaling were traced in a honey bee family. The acoustic connections between queen bees competing for survival in the period of sociotomy were shown to originate at the initial phases of bee colony development. The response of bees to the queen’s singing (a pause in locomotion) developed, since this promoted a reduction in the time spent by the family on completing sociotomy. The development of sociality was associated with the acquisition of an unconditioned reflex-acoustic interaction between the signaling bees and the workers mobilized by them. The acoustic communication signals and sounds that accompany the life of bees have ensured the transformation of a bee family into an evolving biological unit in the species phylogeny.