Finding a Mate

Abstract

Abstract Males of some Bombus species station themselves by a prominent landmark (either perched or hovering) and await a female. It appears that they search visually for queens, and they have unusually large compound eyes to facilitate this. Despite their large eyes, the males are clearly not able to distinguish queens from other organisms at a distance, since they will readily chase after any small flying organism, including birds. At least eight species of bumblebee are known to use this system of mate location; two from Europe (B. confusus and B. mendax ) (Saunders 1909; Krüger 1951; Schremmer 1972), three from North America (B. nevadensis , B. griseocollis and B. rufocinctus ) (Frison 1917; Hobbs 1965a; Alcock and Alcock 1983; O’Neill et al. 1991) and three from Asia (Williams 1991). O’Neill et al. (1991) describe the behaviour of the North American species in detail. Males stake out territories, usually centred on a prominent perch such as a fence post or tree. They dart out from their perch at passing insects, and if they encounter a queen they attempt to grasp her in mid-air with their legs; if successful the couple often continue in flight (and are then lost from view), but sometimes they fall to the ground.