Sound: An Element Common to Communication of Stingless Bees and to Dances of the Honey Bee

Abstract

Sounds are an important part of the communication behavior, the so-called dances, of the honey bee. Stingless bees, which do not use dances for communication, use sound signals to indicate the existence and, in some cases, the distance of a feeding place. The social organization of communities of stingless bees is more primitive than that of honey bees, yet certain commonfeatures of communication behavior in these two groups lead to a new hypothesis of the evolution of dancing behavior of the honey bee.

The food recruitment dance of the stingless bee, Melipona panamica

“…Esch et al (1965) reported that M. quadrifasciata and M. seminigra foragers produced pulsed sounds whose durations were positively correlated with the distance to the food source. M. panamica foragers also produced loud pulsed sounds (audible outside the nest) and Nieh and Roubik (in press) report that the duration of sound pulses produced during the dance phase is correlated with the distance to the food source whereas the duration of sound pulses produced during the unloading phase is correlated with the height of the food source above ground.…”

“…This process is relatively well understood in the honey bees, however much remains to be learned about the recruitment of stingless bees (Meliponinae). Many stingless bees produce movements and sounds inside the nest after returning from a good food source, and these sounds may indicate the distance to the food source in some species Kerr 1958, 1960;Esch et al 1965;Esch 1967;Nieh and Roubik 1995). Kerr (1958, 1960) worked with several Brazilian species, including Melipona quadrifasciata and M. scutellaris, and provided a tantalizing glimpse of what occurs: "Until the first bees reached the feeding table, the bees in the nest were quiet, inactive and scattered about.…”

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

“…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).…”

Potential mechanisms for the communication of height and distance by a stingless bee, Melipona panamica

“…These mechanisms include non-speci®c excitation with no communication of location, piloting (leading recruits directly to the food source), communication with scent marks deposited to form a scent trail, and communication with sounds produced inside the nest to indicate the distance to the food source (Lindauer and Kerr 1958, 1960;Kerr 1960Kerr , 1969Esch et al 1965, Esch 1967, review in Nieh and Roubik 1995. Unfortunately, these mechanisms are not well understood and few species have been studied in detail, despite the potential of such information to reveal trends in the evolution of bee recruitment communication.…”

“…The pioneering work of Esch et al (1965) and Esch (1967) suggested that foragers of M. quadrifasciata and M. seminigra produce sounds inside the nest to communicate the distance to a food source. M. panamica foragers also produce an intriguing sequence of movements and sounds inside the nest (Nieh, 1998b).…”