Abstract

MIKERY-PACHECO, Oscar; SOLORZANO-GORDILLO, Erik  and  SANCHEZ-GUILLEN, Daniel. A method for mass marking honeybees, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) for ecoetological studies. Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2013, vol.29, n.1, pp.248-251. ISSN 2448-8445.

A device that uses fluorescent powder to automatically mark large numbers of honeybees provides a good method to distinguish focal colony foragers from foragers of other colonies. However, when humidity is high, the powder readily forms pellets that cannot pass through the mesh and marking is diminished. We present here an apparatus to mass-mark honeybees with liquid paint. We demonstrate that this low-cost device is a highly efficient method to mark honeybees and does not produce any observable mortality on test foragers or impairing flight ability.