Behavioral Responses to Body Position in Bees: The Interaction of Apis mellifera and Lithurgus littoralis in Prickly Pear Flowers.

ABSTRACT: The behavior of bees is modulated by the presence of other bees and potentially by the visual information transmitted by the different body positions of bees while visiting flowers. We tested whether bee body position promoted the attraction and/or antagonistic behavior of con- and hetero-specific bees that interacted on prickly pear flowers of Opuntia huajuapensis. To test this, we placed dummy model bees of Apis mellifera and the native Lithurgus littoralis in flowers in three common body positions: alert, feeding, and horizontal. The results showed that dummy model bees in feeding and horizontal body positions attracted A. mellifera bees, while the alert position attracted native male L. littoralis. Male L. littoralis bees spent more time attack

SUBMITTER: Santa Anna-Aguayo AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9697662 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature