Age-related task progression in two Australian Tetragonula stingless bees

Stingless bees are a widespread group of highly social bees found in tropical regions throughout much of the world. Despite an impressive diversity, relatively little is known about worker behaviour and division of labour. In this study, we investigate the progression of colony tasks over the lifespan of worker bees in colonies of the two most commonly kept Australian species: Tetragonula carbonaria and T. hockingsi. We marked cohorts of 25–100 newly emerged female bees with a paint dot and released them back into colonies housed in observation hives before recording twice weekly behaviours of marked bees within the nest. Foragers were observed through a clear plastic entrance tube. We replicated this with 5–6 marked cohorts across three colonies for each species. We found the two species were similar to each other in the frequency and age distribution of behaviours. Young worker bees were mostly found cleaning, filling or constructing brood cells and collecting honey from food pots. Middle aged bees were more likely to build or maintain food pots or supporting structures, with guarding and foraging occupying the oldest bees. There was, however, significant overlap in timing of tasks. Moreover, fast cohorts progressed to foraging in less than half the time of the slowest cohorts. Despite subtle differences between our Tetragonula species and other stingless bees, it adds to the evidence that progression from safe to risky jobs with age is an ancestral feature shared across stingless bees, and has similarities to honeybees despite an independent evolutionary origin.