Bumblebees in Pollination Biology

(2) The importance of experience in the interpretation of conspecific chemical signals
Nehal Saleh・Lars Chittka
Behav Ecol Sociobiol (2006) 61:215-220

Foraging bumblebees use scent mark when they revisits the flowers. There are two types of scent mark: repellant mark and attractant mark. In the field observations, bees avoid the flowers using scent mark which is called repellant scent mark. On the other hand, some of the laboratory experiments reported about the attractant scent mark, by which bumblebees attract to the flowers.

The authors worked on the following questions: Do bees mark with different scents? or same scent just are interpreted differently depending on previous experience?

They found that the bee’s experience with level of reward determines how the scent mark is interpreted: the same scent can act as both an attractant and a repellant.

Probing, landing and hovering behavior are very known and common observed behaviors. Crawling-in of bumblebee seems to me a new behavior observed in this research. When the bee entered halfway into the flower, crawls back out and flew off the flower was called Crawling Behavior.

The evidence so far indicates using of scent mark is very flexible. Distinguishing the individual scents of bumblebees may provide a better understanding of the degree of flexibility of scents.