ArticlePeerJ2014
Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone.
Article in PeerJ, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Honeybee queen mandibular pheromone fails to regulate ovary activation in the common wasp.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022Article
- Honeybees possess a structurally diverse and functionally redundant set of queen pheromones.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Comparative transcriptomics of social insect queen pheromones.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Article
- Identification and caste-dependent expression patterns of DNA methylation associated genes in Bombus terrestris.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- The evolution of queen control over worker reproduction in the social Hymenoptera.Ecology and evolution · 2017Article
- Chemical Heterogeneity in Inbred European Population of the Invasive Hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax.Journal of chemical ecology · 2017Article
- Do Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens, Queens Signal their Reproductive and Mating Status to their Workers?Journal of chemical ecology · 2017Article
- Hormonal pleiotropy helps maintain queen signal honesty in a highly eusocial wasp.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Conservation of Queen Pheromones Across Two Species of Vespine Wasps.Journal of chemical ecology · 2016Article
- Chemical communication is not sufficient to explain reproductive inhibition in the bumblebeeRoyal Society open science · 2016Article
- Queen pheromones modulate DNA methyltransferase activity in bee and ant workers.Biology letters · 2016Article
- The origin and evolution of queen and fertility signals in Corbiculate bees.BMC evolutionary biology · 2015Article
- A conserved class of queen pheromones? Re-evaluating the evidence in bumblebees (Bombus impatiens).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Queen pheromones are chemical signals produced by reproductive individuals in social insect colonies. In many species they are key to the maintenance of reproductive division of labor, with workers beginning to reproduce individually once the queen pheromone disappears. Recently, a queen pheromone that negatively affects worker fecundity was discovered in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris, presenting an exciting opportunity for comparisons with analogous queen pheromones in independently-evolved eusocial lineages such as honey bees, ants, wasps and termites. I set out to replicate this discovery and verify its reproducibility. Using blind, controlled experiments, I found that n-pentacosane (C25) does indeed negatively affect worker ovary development. Moreover, the pheromone affects both large and small workers, and applies to workers from large, mature colonies as well as young colonies. Given that C25 is readily available and that bumblebees are popular study organisms, I hope that this replication will encourage other researchers to tackle the many research questions enabled by the discovery of a queen pheromone.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.