Fig. 1: The effect of contact cues from β-workers or substrates on α-workers in dyadic assays.

a Average Terminal Oocyte Size (TOS) of singly isolate (n = 29) or paired workers (n = 21) housed in Petri dishes for 7 days. For each pair, the bee with the greater or lesser ovarian development was classified as an α-worker or a β-worker, respectively. b Aggression index (n = 10 for Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively) and average TOS of α-workers over 7 days in dyadic assays (n = 10, 8, 9, 10, 9, 9, 10 for Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively). Dots represent means, and the shaded areas represent the 95% CI. c Average TOS (right panel) of workers isolated in new cage (n = 12) and paired in original cage (n = 13) in Experiment 1b (left panel). The yellow or white indicates original or new filter paper in Petri dishes, respectively. d Average TOS (right panel) of workers exposed to new filter paper (n = 19) or original filter paper (n = 16) in Experiment 1c (left panel). e Average TOS (right panel) of workers isolated (n = 8) and paired (n = 8) in new cage in Experiment 1d (left panel). f Average TOS (right panel) of workers paired (n = 9) and paired under double mesh treatment (DM paired, n = 8) in new cage in Experiment 1e (left panel). All data are shown as mean ± SEM (standard mean error). Data in (a) was analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s post-hoc analysis (two-tailed) for multi-group comparisons. Data in (c−f) were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s correction (two-tailed) for multiple comparisons (adjusted P-values are shown in the respective columns). Detailed statistical test results and adjusted P-values for multiple comparison were shown in Supplementary Data 1. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.