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

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Abstract

Tetragonisca angustula stingless bees are considered as solitary foragers that lack specific communication strategies. In their orientation towards a food source, these social bees use chemical cues left by co-specifics and the information obtained in previous foraging trips by the association of visual stimuli with the food reward. Here, we investigated their ability to learn the association between odors and reward (sugar solution) and the effect on learning of previous encounters with scented food either inside the hive or during foraging. During food choice experiments, when the odor associated with the food was encountered at the feeding site, the bees’ choice is biased to the same odor afterwards. The same was not the case when scented food was placed inside the nest. We also performed a differential olfactory conditioning of proboscis extension response with this species for the first time. Inexperienced bees did not show significant discrimination levels. However, when they had had already interacted with scented food inside the hive, they were able to learn the association with a specific odor. Possible olfactory information circulation inside the hive and its use in their foraging strategies is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by funds from ANPCYT (01-1155), University of Buenos Aires (X 077) and CONICET (PIP 112-200801-00150) to WMF. We declare that our experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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  1. Grupo de Estudio de Insectos Sociales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, IFIBYNE-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    S. I. Mc Cabe & W. M. Farina

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  1. S. I. Mc Cabe
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Correspondence to W. M. Farina.

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Mc Cabe, S.I., Farina, W.M. Olfactory learning in the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini). J Comp Physiol A 196, 481–490 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0536-2

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