Nasonov's gland

Nasonov's gland produces a pheromone used in recruitment in worker honeybees.

The pheromone can serve the purposes of attracting workers to a settled swarm and draw bees who have lost their way back to the hive.

It is used to recruit workers to food that lacks a characteristic scent and lead bees to water sources.

Its opening is located at the base of the last tergite at the tip of the abdomen.

[1][2][3][4] Nasonov thought that the gland performed perspiration;[5] it was Frederick William Lambert Sladen (May 30, 1876 - 1921) of England who in 1901 first proposed that the gland produced a pheromone.

A bee at the entrance to its hive adopts the typical stance for dispersing pheromone. The thin white stripe (red arrow) near the tip of the bee's abdomen is Nasonov's gland.