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The Defence of Bumblebee Colonies

The Defence of Bumblebee Colonies THE DEFENCE OF BUMBLEBEE COLONIES by J. B. FREE 1) (Bee Research Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station.) (Rec. 10-11-1957) INTRODUCTION The recognition by honeybees of intruders from other colonies has recently received much attention (LECOMTE, 1951, 1954; BUTLER & FREE, 1952; RIBBANDS, 1954, and FREE, 1954). In the present investigation the ability of bumblebees to recognise individuals from other bumblebee colonies and their behaviour towards them have been studied. Although bumblebees probably do not visit other colonies to steal food to the same extent as honeybees do, cases of their doing so have been observed by FRISON (1917), PLATH (1934) and the author. It is well known (e.g. SLADEN, 1900; FANTHAM & PORTER, 1914, and PLATH, 1934) that bumblebees may even attempt to enter honeybee colonies in search of food. It also appears to be common for bumblebee queens who are seeking nesting sites to enter and attempt to establish themselves in the developing nests of other bumblebees (SLADEN, 1912, and PLATH, 1934). The bumblebee colonies used in the present work were housed in woo- den nest-boxes with glass roofs and the workers were given individually distinctive paint marks. THE RECOGNITION OF INTRUDERS The following experiments were designed so that http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Behaviour Brill

The Defence of Bumblebee Colonies

Behaviour , Volume 12 (3): 10 – Jan 1, 1958

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References (10)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0005-7959
eISSN
1568-539X
DOI
10.1163/156853957x00128
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE DEFENCE OF BUMBLEBEE COLONIES by J. B. FREE 1) (Bee Research Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station.) (Rec. 10-11-1957) INTRODUCTION The recognition by honeybees of intruders from other colonies has recently received much attention (LECOMTE, 1951, 1954; BUTLER & FREE, 1952; RIBBANDS, 1954, and FREE, 1954). In the present investigation the ability of bumblebees to recognise individuals from other bumblebee colonies and their behaviour towards them have been studied. Although bumblebees probably do not visit other colonies to steal food to the same extent as honeybees do, cases of their doing so have been observed by FRISON (1917), PLATH (1934) and the author. It is well known (e.g. SLADEN, 1900; FANTHAM & PORTER, 1914, and PLATH, 1934) that bumblebees may even attempt to enter honeybee colonies in search of food. It also appears to be common for bumblebee queens who are seeking nesting sites to enter and attempt to establish themselves in the developing nests of other bumblebees (SLADEN, 1912, and PLATH, 1934). The bumblebee colonies used in the present work were housed in woo- den nest-boxes with glass roofs and the workers were given individually distinctive paint marks. THE RECOGNITION OF INTRUDERS The following experiments were designed so that

Journal

BehaviourBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1958

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