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An unusual recruitment strategy in a mass-recruiting stingless bee, Partamona orizabaensis

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Abstract

Foragers of several stingless bee species deposit attractive scent marks on solid substrates to precisely recruit nestmates to food. Interestingly, Partamona workers quickly recruit large numbers of nest mates to resources, likely even without the deposition of attractive scent marks. However, systematic studies of the recruitment system of these bees are lacking. We now studied the recruitment behavior of P. orizabaensis. Our findings show that foragers of this species can recruit large numbers of nestmates to food sources at a particular location. The precise nestmate recruitment does not rely on attractive scent marks deposited on substrates. We never observed any scent marking behavior and feeders baited with labial or mandibular gland extracts were not attractive for the bees. Chemical analyses showed that the foragers’ labial gland secretions exclusively contain long chain hydrocarbons, which render their role in recruitment communication unlikely. Whether mandibular gland secretions, which contain esters and alcohols that are known as attractive pheromones in other bee species, are used to guide recruits toward food during flight, remains elusive. We conclude that Partamona’s quick recruitment system that does not rely on conspicuous scent marks has evolved as a strategy against competition with sympatrically occurring and more aggressive bee species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Tropical Field Station La Gamba of the University of Vienna in Costa Rica for accommodation and advice, as well as Eduardo Herrera González and Laura Winter for their enthusiasm and contributions to the field work. Likewise, we thank Javier Guevara Sequeira form the Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía (MINAE) in Costa Rica for his help in obtaining a research permit. Special thanks go to Masahiro Ryo for his help and advice regarding statistical analyses, as well as to Michael Hrncir and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestion on an earlier manuscript version of this paper. Financial support was provided by a PROMOS scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) awarded to I.C.F. and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG project JA 1715/3-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Neurobiology, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 10/1, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Isabelle C. Flaig & Stefan Jarau

  2. Centre for Tropical Bee Research (CINAT), National University of Costa Rica, PO Box 475-3000, Lagunilla De Heredia, Costa Rica

    Ingrid Aguilar

  3. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Thomas Schmitt

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  1. Isabelle C. Flaig
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  2. Ingrid Aguilar
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  4. Stefan Jarau
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Correspondence to Isabelle C. Flaig or Stefan Jarau.

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Flaig, I.C., Aguilar, I., Schmitt, T. et al. An unusual recruitment strategy in a mass-recruiting stingless bee, Partamona orizabaensis . J Comp Physiol A 202, 679–690 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1111-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1111-2

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