Communication between the Workers of Stingless Bees

Information flow and regulation of foraging activity in bumble bees (Bombus spp.)

“…One might speculate that primitive social bees first evolved the capacity to be stimulated by nectar influx (caused by successful foraging and thus correlated with good foraging conditions), and then to anticipate this nectar influx by recognizing successful foragers, using cues like fast movement or flower odours. Once bees attend to forager behaviour, foragers may in turn have been selected to exaggerate movements or display other signals which would make them more easy to recognize as being successful, leading eventually to the "excited runs" and pheromone signals displayed by bumble bees and other social bees (Lindauer and Kerr, 1960;Von Frisch, 1967;Nieh, 2004). Since scent learning and fast or exaggerated movements seem to occur in all stingless bees and bumble bees, it is likely that these behaviours were already present in their last common ancestor (Dornhaus and Chittka, 2001;Dornhaus and Cameron, 2003;Nieh, 2004 (Dornhaus et Chittka, 2001).…”

“…However, these usually consist of motor signals, like the "dances" in honey bees and "excited movements" in stingless bees, both of which also involve acoustic signals (Lindauer and Kerr, 1960;Esch, 1967;Von Frisch, 1967;Nieh, 2004). Even in ants and wasps, similar fast motor behaviours or "dances" have been observed and interpreted as serving to activate nest mates for foraging (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990;Richter, 2000).…”

“…Some stingless bee species have also been described as possessing the ability to alert nest mates after discovering food, without being able to recruit them to its location (Trigona angustula, T. iridipennis: Lindauer and Kerr, 1960;Esch et al, 1965;Kerr, 1969; for a more recent review see Nieh, 2004). Stingless bees live in habitats very different from those of most bumble bees (Kerr, 1969;Heinrich, 1979;Goulson, 2003), and indeed there is high variation among stingless bees both in recruitment strategies and habitat use (Nieh, 2004).…”

“…do not show the spectacular recruitment known from honeybees (Apis L.) and some stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini), where a single forager discovering a profitable food source might soon be joined by hundreds of nest mates (Lindauer and Kerr, 1960;Von Frisch, 1967; other articles in this issue). Early studies of bumble bee recruitment therefore concluded that bumble bee foragers are not able to communicate about their finds to nest mates (in Bombus (s.…”

Estimating colonies of Plebeia droryana (Friese, 1900) (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): adults, brood and nest structure

“…Michener (1974) described the colony size of various social bees, especially the genus Trigona. In addition, Lindauer and Kerr (1960) presented an estimate of adult workers in colonies of stingless bee colonies. They evaluated 10 species and among them Plebeia droryana (formerly known as Trigona droryana) had 2,000 to 3,000 adults.…”