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FACTORS INFLUENCING RECOGNITION OF THE NEST ENTRANCE BY RETURNING BUMBLE BEE FORAGERS (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

C. W. Eshelman  and
R. C. Plowright
C. W. Eshelman
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Central Oregon College, Bend, Oregon
R. C. Plowright
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
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Abstract

The relative importance of position and color in nest-entrance recognition was tested in two bumble bee species, Bombus griseocollis (Degeer) and B. occidentalis Greene, using two identical sheds, each bearing a horizontal row of four nest-entrances marked with colored discs to which workers returned after foraging in the field. The bees were trained successively to either a yellow or a green disc on each of the four positions (alternating between the sheds), the other three positions being marked with black discs during each training period. The positions to which bees returned after moving the colored disc to each of the other three positions following each training period were recorded.The results indicate: (1) that the importance of position relative to color was greater at the end positions than in the inner positions; (2) that whereas B. griseocollis relied more on color relative to position than did B. occidentalis when the bees had been trained to the outer positions, the converse held true for inner positions; (3) that position was more important relative to color when the bees were homing than when they were choosing a position at which to alight or enter. Ecological and behavioral implications of the results are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 104 , Issue 3 , March 1972 , pp. 389 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1972

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