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Nest Entrance Marking with Colony Specific Odors by the Bumble Bee Bombus occidentalis (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Author(s) -
Foster Robin L.,
Gamboa George J.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1989.tb00773.x
Subject(s) - nest (protein structural motif) , hymenoptera , biology , odor , foraging , apidae , zoology , ecology , bombus terrestris , pollen , pollinator , pollination , biochemistry , neuroscience
We investigated the ability of naturally foraging female bumble bees (Bombus occidentalis) to recognize their nest entrance in the field. In a blind binary‐choice paradigm, females discriminated between nest entrances tipped with caps from their own nest entrances and entrances tipped with caps previously associated with foreign heterospecific or foreign conspecific colonies. Washing caps in organic solvents eliminated the manifestation of this nest‐entrance recognition and significantly decreased the episodes of antennating caps. These results indicate that bees deposit colony‐specific chemicals on nest entrances that are later perceived via contact chemoreception. Females treated foreign heterospecific and foreign conspecific caps similarly, suggesting that bees may not assess or respond to the degree of similarity between their own colony odor and a foreign colony odor.