Ethological study of African carpenter bees of the genus Xylocopa (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae).
Over 200 bees of 4 African Xylocopa species were observed for 3 months on the island of Rubondo (L. Victoria, Tanzania). Some 40 burrows were investigated, 100 bees marked. Building techniques are minutely reported; burrow construction simplifies defence and allows re-use by succeeding generations. Food plants, collecting, provisioning and all aspects of ontogenesis are treated, insight given into pupal leg mobility and the much-debated emergence order after eclosion: the first-hatched bee, in the rearmost cell, prepares the way for siblings. Copulation and the copulatory hold are studied using tethered femalefemale, and illustrated. A few colonization experiments are described and s spectrogram of begging sounds given. Meeting of the generations, feeding of the young and nest-defence by young siblings throw light on the evolution of primitively eusocial communities. The known literature is reviewed in each chapter.
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D012737:Sex Factors; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity