COMMUNICATION AND ORIENTATION IN HONEYBEES

SUMMARY 1. Co-operation in a bee colony—Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera Apidae)—demands an elaborated mutual communitation concerning the different activities.Division of labour and searching for food are selected as examples.Division of labour is based on a working schedule according to age. However, by extensive patrolling each individual bee will accommodate to the momentary needs of the colony.In the search for food the round and wagging dance recruits other bees and informs them about quality, availability, species of flowers to be visited and the location of the food-source.2. The bee dance has raised many questions on extraordinary performances in the orientation. Only a few are considered: a. How is the distance between hive and food-source measured by the forager bee? Energy consumption is controlled by stretch receptors on the wall of the proventriculus (the honey stomach). b. How can the dancing bees respond to sun position, when the sun is hidden behind clouds?The pattern of polarized light—to ...