Rac. Costa et C. Cruz-landim, Occurrence and morphometry of the hypopharyngeal glands in Scaptotrigona postica Lat. (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponinae), J BIOSCI, 24(1), 1999, pp. 97-102
As compared to Apis mellifera where only workers have hypopharyngeal glands
, in Scaptotrigona postica, these glands occur in workers, queens and males
. They are composed of two long axial ducts with many unicellular secretory
alveoli interconnected by secretory canaliculi. The axial ducts are longer
in miles than in workers, but the alveolar areas of queens and males are g
enerally smaller. In workers the alveoli have their greatest size in the nu
rses or middle-aged individuals while in queens and males they are larger i
n newly emerged individuals. The results indicate that the glands in worker
s may produce food for the brood as in A. mellifera, since they are well de
veloped in the nurse workers. However, the function of the glands in queens
and males remains to be clarified since these individuals have no part in
brood care.