Honeybee Anesthesia??

[MES613]

A veterinarian friend of mine sent me an article about "bee bites" that appeared on phys.org, a web-based science, research and technology news service.

I hadn't heard of this before and thought that some of you might find it interesting.

According to this article, honeybees "bite" targets that are too small to be stung, like wax moths and verroa mites. The bees bite their prey and then secrete 2-heptanone into the woundbite, paralyzing their prey and giving the bees time to eject the prey from the hive. This substance, produced in the mandibular glands of bees, was originally thought to be an alarm pheromone, chemically tagging areas for bees to revisit or calling on other bees to attack.

The article says that some scientists are now exploring the possible uses of this substance as an anesthetic for use on animals and/or humans.

Here's the link if you'd like to learn more about this:

http://phys.org/news/2012-10-honeybe...nesthetic.html

[cerezha]

It is very interesting observation that bees mark areas to revisit with alarm pheromone. May be it explains bees "memory" to revisit my backdoor after especially disturbing inspection. I was really amused by this ability of bees to remember "enemy" (me) for up to a week. After every disturbing inspection they patrol my backdoor. Number of bees and how long they patrol depends from degree of disturbance. I am wondering if they just "label" my backdoor with alarm pheromone?

[AmericasBeekeeper]

It was originally thought to be alarm pheromone. It is not actually alarm pheromone. I should have titled it better and we would not be posting the same old news. Varroa and wax moth larva become comfortably numb - http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...mfortably-numb
The Bite of the Honeybee: 2-Heptanone Secreted from Honeybee Mandibles during a Bite Acts as a Local Anesthetic in Insects and Mammals
Honeybees secrete 2-heptanone (2-H) from their mandibular glands when they bite. 2-H is a local anesthetic effective against wax moth larva (WML) and Varroa mites, which are paralyzed after a honeybee bite. Honeybees can use 2-H for defense, to paralyze invaders that are too small to sting.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0047432

[cerezha]

... chemically tagging areas for bees to revisit or calling on other bees to attack.

this passage from your original post attracted my attention. I think it is interesting idea that bees may mark potential source of danger with alarm pheromone and later re-visit the place to make sure that danger is over. It explains my situation when my bees patrols my backdoor after inspection. It's actually nothing to do with your original subject - sorry for distraction.