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Pheromone paths attached to the substrate in meliponine bees: helpful but not obligatory for recruitment success

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Abstract

In contrast to marking of the location of resources or sexual partners using single-spot pheromone sources, pheromone paths attached to the substrate and assisting orientation are rarely found among flying organisms. However, they do exist in meliponine bees (Apidae, Apinae, Meliponini), commonly known as stingless bees, which represent a group of important pollinators in tropical forests. Worker bees of several Neotropical meliponine species, especially in the genus Scaptotrigona Moure 1942, deposit pheromone paths on substrates between highly profitable resources and their nest. In contrast to past results and claims, we find that these pheromone paths are not an indispensable condition for successful recruitment but rather a means to increase the success of recruiters in persuading their nestmates to forage food at a particular location. Our results are relevant to a speciation theory in scent path-laying meliponine bees, such as Scaptotrigona. In addition, the finding that pheromone path-laying bees are able to recruit to food locations even across barriers such as large bodies of water affects tropical pollination ecology and theories on the evolution of resource communication in insect societies with a flying worker caste.

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Acknowledgments

We dedicate this publication to the memory of two outstanding scientists who contributed seminal work to the study of meliponine bees: Martin Lindauer (1918–2008) and João Maria Franco de Camargo (1941–2009). We are very grateful to the Headmasters’ Office of the University of São Paulo (Piracicaba Campus) for authorising our work at the lake in front of the engineering building. N.C. Noronha, A.G.C. Signoretti, H.R. dos Santos and J.C.R. Castilho helped us to realize the physically demanding rope-above-the-lake experiments. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms which helped to improve the manuscript. Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (project P17530 to F.G.B.). The present research complies with the current Brazilian environmental laws, SISBIO 65469826, Nr. 15200/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Dirk Louis P. Schorkopf, Linde Morawetz & Friedrich G. Barth

  2. Department of Entomology, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, University of São Paulo, Av. Pádua Dias 11, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    José M. S. Bento

  3. Department of Biology, FFCLRP, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

    Ronaldo Zucchi

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  1. Dirk Louis P. Schorkopf
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Correspondence to Dirk Louis P. Schorkopf.

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Schorkopf, D.L.P., Morawetz, L., Bento, J.M.S. et al. Pheromone paths attached to the substrate in meliponine bees: helpful but not obligatory for recruitment success. J Comp Physiol A 197, 755–764 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-011-0638-5

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