Trophallaxis within the dancing context: a behavioral and thermographic analysis in honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Honeybee workers that follow a dancing bee within the hive may contact its mouthparts to receive a food sample. It is currently unknown which proportion of begging bees actually receive food samples via trophallaxis from a dancer. We combined behavioral and thermographic recordings to analyze trophallactic behavior considering the informational context in which these interactions occurred. Dance followers engaged in shorter oral contacts and achieved a lower proportion of effective receptions (26%) than non-followers (58%). These results show that oral contacts often occur between dancers and followers, but their brief duration suggests that followers may just probe the incoming nectar. However, short contacts might allow unemployed nectar foragers either to taste or smell (or both) the solution exposed between the dancer's mandibles, which may contribute to the acquisition of information involved in the decision to visit that food source.