SOME ASPECTS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL AGING IN THE ADULT WORKER HONEY BEE ,

Abstract

1. Acid sodium β-glycerophosphatase in whole body homogenates of adult worker honey bees shows a rise in activity by about 90% from the first to the tenth day following emergence and remains unchanged thereafter at this elevated level until old age. 2. Alkaline phosphatase shows a steady decline in activity to about 44% below that of day-old bees, by about the tenth day following emergence, remaining unchanged at the lowered level until old age. 3. Although no direct relationship between these enzymes and the process of senescence is apparent, the correspondence between these data and earlier findings is discussed in terms of the post-emergence development of the neuromotor mechanisms in vigorous-flying holometabolous insects.