Olfactory learning in the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

MC CABE SI; , FARINA WM

JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: New York; Año: 2010 vol. 196 p. 481 - 490

0340-7594

Tetragonisca angustula stingless bees areconsidered as solitary foragers that lack speciWc communicationstrategies. In their orientation towards a food source,these social bees use chemical cues left by co-speciWcs andthe information obtained in previous foraging trips by theassociation of visual stimuli with the food reward. Here, weinvestigated their ability to learn the association betweenodors and reward (sugar solution) and the eVect on learningof previous encounters with scented food either inside thehive or during foraging. During food choice experiments,when the odor associated with the food was encountered atthe feeding site, the bees’ choice is biased to the same odorafterwards. The same was not the case when scented foodwas placed inside the nest. We also performed a diVerentialolfactory conditioning of proboscis extension response withthis species for the Wrst time. Inexperienced bees did notshow signiWcant discrimination levels. However, when theyhad had already interacted with scented food inside thehive, they were able to learn the association with a speciWcodor. Possible olfactory information circulation inside thehive and its use in their foraging strategies is discussed.