Pheromones
Lexikon
Scent substances that bees use to communicate within the colony.
Scent substances that bees use to communicate within the colony. They make up for what a single animal cannot oversee on its own, and they hold the superorganism together.
The most important one is queen substance from the queen's mandibular glands. It is distributed throughout the colony through mutual feeding and suppresses the building of queen cells as well as the development of the workers' ovaries. If it is absent, the colony notices within a few hours.
Other scent substances control alarm and defense, mark the hive entrance, and guide the swarm towards the cluster.