Table Of ContentMISCELLANEOUS NOTES
beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae. Folia ent. Mex. 12-14: 243-263.
1-312. Lee, J.M. & Y.S. Peng (1982): Influence of manure availability and
Heinrich,B. &G.A. Bartholomew(1979): TheecologyoftheAfrican nestingdensityontheprogenysizeofOnthophagusgazella.Emir.
dungbeetles. Sclent.Amer. 241: 118-127. Ent. 11(1): 38-41.
*Heymons, R. & H. Lengerken (1929): Biologishe Untersuchungen Narendran,T.C.&K.J.Joseph(1978):Mechanismsofsoundproduction
on coprophagen Lamellicomein. I. Nahrungaerwerb and in Reliocoprisbucephalus(Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae). Entomon.
Fortpflanzungsbiologie der Gattung Scarabaeus Linnaeus. A. 3: 297-299.
Morh. Okol. Tiere. 14: 531-613. Puzanova-Malysheva, E.V. (1956): Povedenie zhuka Skarabeya -
Hingston, R.W.G. (1923): A Naturalist in Hindustan. H.F. and ScarabaeussacerL.(Coleoptera;Scarabaeidae).TrudyYses.Ent.
G.Witherby,London, 292pp. Obehch. 45: 51-71.
Horgan, F.G. (2001): Burial ofbovine dung by coprophagous beetles Sato, H. (1998): Maleparticipation innestbuildinginthedungbeetle
(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from horse and cow grazing sites in Scarabaeus catenatus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): mating effort
El Salvador. EuropeanJ. SoilBiol. 37(2): 103-111. versuspaternaleffort.J. InsectBehav. 11(6): 833-843.
Hunter, J.S., G.T. Fincher & D.C. Sheppard (1996): Observations on Veenakumari, K. & G.K. Veeresh (1996): Some aspects of the
the life history of Onthophagus depressus (Coleoptera: reproductive biology of Onthophagus gazella (F.) and
Scarabaeidae).J. Entmol. Sci. 31(1): 63-71. Onthophagus rectecornutus Lansb. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).
Kingston, T.J. & M. Coe (1977): The biology ofa giant dung-beetle J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 93(2): 222-256.
(Heliocoprisdilloni) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).J. Zool 181(2): *original notseen
19. PROTEIN PROFILE OF HAEMOLYMPH FROMAPIS SPECIES1
NeelimaR. Kumar2-3and LalitaNegi2-4
'AcceptedJune07, 2004
departmentofZoology, PunjabUniversity,Chandigarh 160014, India.
-’Email: [email protected]
4Email: [email protected]
Molecular or biochemical considerations are High hills workerbees ofApiscerana were collected
comparatively new tools in honeybee systematics. Though from Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh (2,500 m above msl), and
thesehavebeenextensivelyusedinthecaseofApismellifera ofthe plains from the botanical garden, Punjab University,
m
(Mestriner 1969;MestrinerandContel 1972;Sylvester 1986; Chandigarh(320 above msl).Apismellifera workerswere
Leeetal. 1989; Sheppard and Berlocher 1989), notmuch is taken from the maintained apiary and Apis clorsata from
known about the molecular and biochemical systematic naturalnestingsitesfromthePunjabUniversitycampus.The
aspects of the Asian honeybee species. It is necessary to haemolymphofworkerhoneybeeswas sucked with an auto
integratemorphometric,biologicalandbehaviouraldatawith pipette,bypinchingoffbetweentwoadjacenttergitesofthe
molecular studies for valid identification of races or abdomen ofthe bee. It was then diluted with sample buffer
geographic ecotypes in case ofhoneybees. Keeping this in in the ratio of 1:1. Forprotein profiling, standard technique
view, studies on biochemical characterizations ofhoneybee ofSDS-PAGE (Laemmli 1970) was employed.
species and populations were carried out. Duringthepresentstudies,nineproteinfractionswere
Table 1: Proteinfractionsin haemolymphofApisspecies
Standard A. ceranaofhigh hills A. ceranaofplains A. mellifera A. dorsata
Sr. No. Mol. Wt. Rf. Values Mol. Wt. Rf. Values Mol. Wt. Rf. Values Mol. Wt. Rf. Values Mol. Wt. Rf. Values
(kD) (kD) (kD) (kD) (kD)
1. 480 0.2765 480 0.2765 4400 0.04255 210 0.36 250 0.34
2. 67 0.48 300 0.3101 3000 0.085 41.9 0.53 67 0.48
3. 45 0.51 96 0.4468 2000 0.1276 45 0.51 45 0.51
4. 24 0.5951 67 0.48 1650 0.1489 24 0.5951 24 0.5951
5. 18 0.6170 45 0.51 1050 0.17 - - - -
6. - - 29 0.57 400 0.29 - - - -
7. - - - - 67 0.48 - - - -
8. - - - - 45 0.51 - - - -
9. - - - - 41.9 0.53 - - - -
364 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
identified in the haemolymph ofApis cerana of the plains ornamentals and fruit trees such as Prunus amygdalus,
whilethatofthehighhillsshowedsixproteinfractions.Only Prunuspadam,Prunusdomestica.AbdelandWahab(1970)
one fraction corresponding to molecularweight 67 kD was alsoobservedtheeffectofthehostplantonthehaemolymph
shared between them, and was also present in A. dorsata, composition ofSpodoptera.
but absent in A. mellifera (Table 1), suggesting that it is Kumar and Kamal (1999) and Kamal (2000) studied
characteristic of Asian species. The protein profile of the protein composition of hypopharyngeal glands in
populationsfromhighhillsandplainsofA. ceranawasfound A. cerana and A. mellifera and also compared the
,
tobeverydifferent.Thisisinaccordancewiththesuggestion protein fractions in the royaljelly. Kamal (2000) suggested
ofAseo andLaude (1993), thatelectrophoresis datahas the a systematic significance of the variations found in
potential for the identification of sub-species within each these.
species and as a markerforpopulation structures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The presence of a larger number ofprotein fractions
inA. cerana ofplains is perhaps indicative ofthe influence
offloralfoodsourcesonthehaemolymphcomposition.The We thank the Chairman, Department of Zoology,
botanicalgardenofPanjabUniversity,fromwherethesebees Punjab University, Chandigarh for the research facilities
were collected, was blooming with spring flora, including provided.
REFERENCES
Abdel, W.A.M. & A.M.A. Wahab (1970): Free amino acids in the 680-685.
haemolymphofsixlepidopterouslarvaespecies.Bull.de.La.Soc. Lee, M.L., Y.H. Yin, S.S. Kim, K.S. Woo & D.S. Shu (1989): Malate
d. Egypte54: 81-85. dehydrogenase and non-specific esterase polymorphism in Apis
Aseo,S.C. & R.P. Laude(1993):Alkalinephosphatasepolymorphism melliferaL.andApisceranaF.inSouthKorea.Kor.J.Apic\4(2):
in Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in Los Banos, Laguna, 68-74.
Philippines.Pp.57-63.In:Connor,L.J.,T.Rinderer,H.A.Sylvester Mestriner, M.A. (1969): Biochemical polymorphism in bees (Apis
&S. Wongsiri(Eds:).AsianApiculture.WicwasPress,USA. melliferaligustrica).Nature223: 188-189.
Kamal, S. (2000): Studies on royaljelly producing hypopharyngeal Mestriner, M.A. & E.P.B. Contel(1972): The P-3 and Estloci inthe
glandsofhoneybees. M.Sc. (Hons) Dissertationsubmittedtothe honeybeeApismellifera. Genetics 72: 733-739.
PanjabUniversity,Chandigarh. Sheppard, W.S. & S.H. Berlocher (1989): Allozyme variation
Kumar, N.R. & S. Kamal (1999): Cytochemical characterization or anddifferentiationamongfourApisspecies.Apidologie20:419-
tile royaljelly producing hypopharyngeal glands in honey bee. 431.
Pestmanag. eco. zool. 7(2): 111-114. Sylvester,H.A.(1986):BiochemicalGenetics.In:Rinderer,T.E.(Ed:).
Laemmli, U.K. (1970): Cleavage of structural protein during the BeeGeneticsandBreeding.HarcourtBraceJovanovichPublisher,
assembly of the head of the bacteriophage T4. Nature 222: Orlando,Florida.426pp.
20. A PREY-PREDATOR LINK BETWEEN THE ROCK BEEAPIS DORSATA
AND THE FALSE VAMPIRE BATMEGADERMA LYRA GEOFFROY
BASED ON THEIR CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
1
SutapaBiswas2
'AcceptedJune23,2004
departmentofZoology,AcharyaPrafullaChandraCollege,NewBarrackpore,
Kolkata700 131,WestBengal,India.Email: [email protected]
During observations, in March andApril 1997, at the lyra Geoffroy) would appear and circle around the beehive
School ofLifeSciences,Jawaharlal NehruUniversity,New ready to catchthe flyingbees.
Delhi, wefound Rock BeeApisdorsata hives hangingfrom Samplesofboththemassflightofbeeswerecollected
the edge of the sunshade of the fourth floor of the school (samplesizes 109,57and44), usingabutterflynet(attached
building. In the evenings, we would observe the last two withalongrod).Thebeescaughtwerechilledtomake them
massflights,(Kastbergeretal. 1996),ofthebees,foraround unconscious and the number of workers and drones noted.
5 and 10 minutes. The first mass flight occurred just before Analysis of samples confirms that 78.5% ofthe bees were
sunset, and the second during sunset. Two to three minutes drones. The sample of an earlier mass flight showed only
before the mass flight, the FalseVampire Bats (Megaderma 4.3% drones (sample sizes 40, 38 and 37). The circadian
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007 365
