Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have one of the most complex pheromonal communication systems found in nature, possessing 15 known glands that produce an array of compounds.
These chemical compounds have low molecular weights, are highly volatile, and appear to be the least specific of all pheromones.
The other alarm pheromone is released by the mandibular glands and consists of 2-heptanone, which is also a highly volatile substance.
This compound has a repellent effect and it was proposed that it is used to deter potential enemies and robber bees.
[6] Another pheromone is responsible for preventing worker bees from bearing offspring in a colony that still has developing young.
This pheromone is a ten-component blend of fatty-acid esters, which also modulates adult caste ratios and foraging ontogeny dependent on its concentration.
An artificial brood pheromone was invented by Yves Le Conte, Leam Sreng, Jérome Trouiller, and Serge Henri Poitou and patented in 1996.
The gland secretes its alkaline products into the vaginal cavity, and it has been assumed to be deposited on the eggs as they are laid.
The secretions of workers in queenright colonies are long-chain alkanes with odd numbers of carbon atoms, but those of egg-laying queens and egg-laying workers of queenless colonies also include long chain esters.
Synthetic queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is a mixture of five components: 9-ODA, (−)-9-HDA, (+)-9-HDA, HOB and HVA in a ratio of 118:50:22:10:1.
The queen also contains an abundance of various methyl and ethyl fatty acid esters,[19] very similar to the brood recognition pheromone described above.