Intra-Patriline Variability in the Performance of the Vibration Signal and Waggle Dance in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera

Abstract

We examined intra-patriline behavioral plasticity in communication behavior by generating lifetime behavioral profiles for the performance of the vibration signal and waggle dance in workers which were the progeny of three unrelated queens, each inseminated with the semen of a single, different drone. We found pronounced variability within each patriline for the tendency to produce each signal, the ontogeny of signal performance, and the persistence with which individual workers performed the signals throughout their lifetimes. Within each patriline, the number of workers that performed each signal and the distribution of onset ages for each signal were significantly different. In each patriline, workers of all ages could perform vibration signals; vibration signal production began 3–5 d before waggle dancing; and some workers began performing waggle dances at ages typically associated with precocious foraging. Most workers vibrated and waggled only 1–2 d during their lifetimes, although each patriline contained some workers that performed the signal persistently for up to 8 or 9 d. We also found marked variability in signal performance among the three worker lineages