I have discovered an undocumented and replicatable behaviour in honey bees (apis mellifera).I take a recently deceased and externally undamaged bee from the hive and place it on the top lid which is 750mm/2.5ft away from the entrance. This is done in low wind, clear sky and good flight conditions. The lid is not part of normal worker flight paths. Within 20 minutes a worker will fly out and land on top near the corpse, a group of workers then join it within minutes. They surround the corpse and touch it with their antenna. At first this seems to be normal undertaking except it is outside the hive and they do not move the corpse. They examine it for under 2 minutes and then fly away to the field. This does not fit any described behaviour and is not classical undertaking which is defined by removal. Undertaker bees would return to the hive after and undertaking is individual not done by a group.So a field bee detects the corpse and flies to it then recruits others which is why the group clusters quickly after initial detection, but why? I cannot explain why the initial bee recruits other bees or even why it decides to check this corpse out when it ignores all of the corpses that are thrown out of the entrance by the undertakers.
>>16987270Believe it or not I'm doing a PhD on bee behaviour. Undertaker bees not only dispose of the corpses of their nest mates, they also check them out through antennation, trying to determine their cause of death, to prevent spreading of diseases.Consider also that bees can recognise their nestmates from other hives by a shared scent signature (cuticular hydrocarbons).Most probably, the bees went to check out the other bee (they can't easily tell if it's dead or a bee from a different hive before coming close and sniffing it with their antennae). Maybe its scent or unusual location alerted the guards, they do this sort of recruiting after alarm pheromone is released, what they do to kill predators such as wasps and hornets.
>>16987317>bee behaviour.dont you mean beehavior lmao xd
>>16987317That is so cool. Thank you for that.>>16987331Kek
>>16987331Epic
>>16987331oh my science
>>16987270very interesting I have some hivesgoing to have to see if I can replicate this
>>16987603If you are, I suggest you catch some bees using clean tweezers (go for the legs or hurting them will be very easy), put them in a tube or container, and kill them by putting it in the freezer, they won't wake up after just 10-12 minutes in there. Then, let them thaw and dry at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, and place them on the surface using again clean tweezers (to not mess with their natural odour profile). Film it if possible >>16987331Unbeelievable
>>16987317Would you happen to know if chemical ecology is legit?
