I need to know when the maximum growth of hypopharyngeal glands is seen in honeybee phenology?
The many papers suggested that hypopharyngeal gland is the biggest when the workers care of the larvae (nurses) or queen (Huang, Z-Y., G. E. Robinson, and D. W. Borst. "Physiological correlates of division of labor among similarly aged honey bees." Journal of Comparative Physiology A 174.6 (1994): 731-739.). It is also known that foragers have a smaller hypopharyngeal gland than workers performing inside-nest task - it is very important because the onset of foraging depends on many factors including those environmental. I thing that the best you sampled a workers between 6-12 days old - in this age workers have generally the biggest hypopharyngeal gland (Deseyn, Jeroen, and Johan Billen. "Age-dependent morphology and ultrastructure of the hypopharyngeal gland of Apis mellifera workers (Hymenoptera, Apidae)." Apidologie 36.1 (2005): 49-57.).
The hypopharyngeal glands reach their maximum size and weight when the honeybees are 8–12 days old (Crailsheim and Stolberg 1989; Knecht and Kaatz 1990; Lass and Crailsheim 1996; Hrassnigg and Crailsheim 1998). When honeybees are older than 12 days, the HPGs decrease in size (Fluri et al. 1982; Deseyn and
Billen 2005).
Kind regards
Hi Ali
I agree with Karolina and Noureddine. The hypopharingeal glands of Apis mellifera reach their maximum development when workers are nurse (middle age), taking care of larvae. But the first observation of this condition was done by Cruz-Landim (1967) and ultrastructure of these glands by Cruz-Landim and Hadek (1969). It is important know who were the first ones that published these informations about hypopharyngeal glands. Cruz-Landim is a great reference concerning bee glands.
Cruz-landim, C. 1967. Estudo comparativo de algumas glândulas das abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e respectivas implicações evolutivas. Arq. Zool. S. Paulo, v.15, p.177-290, 1967.
Cruz-landim, C. and Hadek, R. 1969. Ultrastructure of Apis mellifera of hypopharyngeal glands. In: Proc. VI Cong. IUSSI. Bern, p.121-130.
King regards
Ali
There is another information that may be interesting for you.
In the absence of nurse workers in the colony, forager workers up to 40 days-old can return to feed. The hypopharingeal glands of forager workers till 40 days-old can return to be developed, ie, the condition is reversible. But if the forager is older than 40 days, the reversal is not possible (Gracioli et al. 1999).
Gracioli-Vitti. L.F; Silva de Moraes, R.L.M. and Cruz-Landim, C. 1999. Electrophoretical studies on protein of hypopharingeal glandsof aged Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae) workers induced to return to brood-feeding activity. Naturalia (São José do Rio Preto), v. 24, p. 9-17.
Best regards
It really depends on the question. Are you speaking about bees in the context of a colony or in cages? Worker bees require protein to activate their glands. They can use their own protein reserves for a limited time, but otherwise require access to pollen. I discuss hypopharyngeal gland development in caged bees in my recent open access BEAS paper: Queen and young larval pheromones impact nursing and reproductive physiology of honey bee (Apis mellifera) workers
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4220115/
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