Food profitability affects intranidal recruitment behaviour in the stingless bee Nannotrigona testaceicornis

Does the food's sugar concentration affect recruitment behaviour in the stingless bee Nan- notrigona testaceicornis? We recorded intranidal forager behaviour while offering sugar water of constant, increasing, or decreasing concentrations. Running speed was not correlated with sugar concentration but the jostling contacts/sec were. Food profitability also affected the recruiter's thorax vibrations: Pulse duration and duty cycle followed both concentration increases and decreases. Sugar concentration also influenced the number of recruited bees. In comparison to the phylogenetically closely related Scaptotrigona, Nan- notrigona's intranidal recruitment behaviour showed a more elaborate association with food profitability. This is likely to reflect differences in ecology and foraging strategies as Nannotrigona -i n contrast to Scaptotrigona - does not lay scent trails to guide recruits to a food source. stingless bees / communication / recruitment / foraging / thorax vibrations