Journal
ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 27, Issue 12, Pages 901-906Publisher
ZOOLOGICAL SOC JAPAN
DOI: 10.2108/zsj.27.901
Keywords
Apis cerana japonica; Cymbidium floribundum; honeybee vision; ultraviolet reflection; foraging behavior; pollination
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Foragers of the Japanese honeybee (Apis cerana japonica) were attracted by flowers of an oriental orchid (Cymbidium floribundum) and were observed to carry the pollinia on their scutella. After the removal of pollinia from the flowers, their labial color changed from white to reddish brown. Both artificial removal of pollinia and ethrel treatment of the flowers also induced this labial color change. Labia in color-changed flowers showed a decreased reflectance of wavelengths less than 670 nm compared to control intact flower. Both reflectance irradiance spectra and ultraviolet photographs showed that only the nectar guide in white (unchanged) flowers reflected ultraviolet light, and that this reflectance decreased with labial color change. Dual choice experiments showed that the honeybee foragers preferentially visited flowers having white labia rather than reddish brown. We suggest that Japanese honeybees discriminate between the floral phases of C. floribundum using color vision.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available