Visual Searching of Local Food Sources in Social Hymenoptera

Summary

In the series of field experiments honeybees Apis mellifera L. and paper wasps Paravespula spp. collected during every foraging trip a sufficient portion of sugar syrup distributed at several similar flower-like feeders. In many cases insects were able to escape fruitlessly repeated investigations of feeders (when they turned to be empty). The statistical analysis of insect pathways showed two components of behaviour optimization: the initial (probably inborn) searching rules and individual learning. The rules were similar both in bees and wasps but in the wasp behaviour these rules were relatively less important and learning was more important than in bees. This finding is considered to be linked with wasp polyphagy, because wasps use universal searching rules and individual habits for flower visitation and for hunt. There is no such universality among the other types of activity. In our experiments those bees and wasps which were trained to discriminate geometrical figures during foraging were not able to fulfill the task during the search of a nest entrance, and vice versa.