Abstract
Drones (Apis mellifera ♂) were attracted to a lure scented with queen pheromone suspended at a height of 11–18m. An unscented test object, usually a black sphere, was lowered on a vertical string at a horizontal distance of 50 cm or 103 cm from the scented lure. Drones often made a rapid, direct, displacement from the scented lure to the test object. Drones responded to objects that subtended an angle as small as 0.41° which is less than the acceptance angle of a single ommatidium. We calculate that a drone can respond to a stimulus corresponding to a reduction in the light incident on one ommatidium at a time of 8%; the brevity of the stimulus on each ommatidium would seem to be a factor in the design of the eye.
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