Colour is more than hue: preferences for compiled colour traits in the stingless bees Melipona mondury and M. quadrifasciata

Abstract

The colour vision of bees has been extensively analysed in honeybees and bumblebees, but few studies consider the visual perception of stingless bees (Meliponini). In a five-stage experiment the preference for colour intensity and purity, and the preference for the dominant wavelength were tested by presenting four colour stimuli in each test to freely flying experienced workers of two stingless bee species, Melipona mondury and Melipona quadrifasciata. The results with bee-blue, bee-UV-blue and bee-green colours offered in four combinations of varying colour intensity and purity suggest a complex interaction between these colour traits for the determination of colour choice. Specifically, M. mondury preferred bee-UV-blue colours over bee-green, bee-blue and bee-blue-green colours while M. quadrifasciata preferred bee-green colour stimuli. Moreover in M. mondury the preferences were different if the background colour was changed from grey to green. There was a significant difference between species where M. mondury preferred UV-reflecting over UV-absorbing bee-blue-green colour stimuli, whereas M. quadrifasciata showed an opposite preference. The different colour preferences of the free flying bees in identical conditions may be caused by the bees' experience with natural flowers precedent to the choice tests, suggesting reward partitioning between species.

The yellow specialist: droneflyEristalis tenaxprefers different yellow colours for landing and proboscis extension

“…The avoidance of dark colours is very evident from the dual-choice test following training, but contradicts the finding that UV-absorbing colours are preferred over similar but UV-reflecting ones. The results provide no evidence that the flies prefer more-saturated over less-saturated colours of similar brightness as some bees do (Lunau et al, 1996;Koethe et al, 2016). There is also no evidence the hoverflies possess a perceptual dimension for colour saturation, which in analogy to bee colour vision might be evaluated by the distance between the colour locus of a test colour and that of the background colour divided by the distance between the corresponding spectral and that of the background (Koethe et al, 2016).…”

“…The results provide no evidence that the flies prefer more-saturated over less-saturated colours of similar brightness as some bees do (Lunau et al, 1996;Koethe et al, 2016). There is also no evidence the hoverflies possess a perceptual dimension for colour saturation, which in analogy to bee colour vision might be evaluated by the distance between the colour locus of a test colour and that of the background colour divided by the distance between the corresponding spectral and that of the background (Koethe et al, 2016). The findings of this study suggest that the hoverflies might possess perceptual dimensions for the yellowness and for the blueness of colours instead, which would fit with the 'yellow and pale' system.…”

“…In order to test the preference for the saturation of colour stimuli, a dual-choice experiment was set up similarly to that testing the preference for the brightness of colour stimuli. The stimuli were produced using a mixture of blue, white and black powders in order to disentangle saturation and brightness (for details, see Koethe et al, 2016). The flies thus visited four rewarded identical artificial flowers and then were given a dual choice between two rewarded artificial flowers, of which only one was identical to the trained artificial flower (Fig.…”

Como Treinar Sua Abelha: Métodos Aplicados À Biologia Cognitiva Da Polinização

“…De fato, o treinamento de abelhas é uma atividade simples, podendo ser realizado por crianças em atividades escolares (Blackawton et al 2011). A maioria dos estudos foi conduzida com abelhas sociais dos gêneros Apis e Bombus (Weiss 2001, Chittka & Thomson 2004, porém estudos recentes têm sido conduzidos com outras abelhas, como as Meliponini, as quais também podem ser facilmente treinadas em experimentos de comportamento (Henske et al 2015, Koethe et al 2016, Balamurali et al 2018.…”

Stingless bees (Meliponini): senses and behavior

“…When searching for food, visual cues are important for foragers to detect flowers from a distance. Here, color preferences (both innate and modulated through previous experience), visual acuity, spatial resolution, and light sensitivity of the bees' eyes are key physiological characteristics to identify flower patches in complex visual habitats, such as tropical rainforests (Dyer et al 2016a, b;Koethe et al 2016;Streinzer et al 2016). Once at the food source, foragers need to decide which flowers to visit and which to avoid.…”