Classical conditioning of proboscis extension in harnessed Africanized honey bee queens (Apis mellifera L.).
Experiments are reported on learning in virgin Africanized honey bee queens (Apis mellifera L.). Queens restrained in a "Pavlovian harness" received a pairing of hexanal odor with a 1.8-M feeding of sucrose solution. Compared to explicitly unpaired controls, acquisition was rapid in reaching about 90%. Acquisition was also rapid in queens receiving an unconditioned stimulus of "bee candy" or an unconditioned stimulus administered by worker bees. During extinction the conditioned response declines. The steepest decline was observed in queens receiving an unconditioned stimulus of bee candy. These findings extend previous work on learning of Afrianized honey bee workers to a population of queen bees.
Aquino
Italo S
IS
Departamento de Agropecuária Laboratório Apícola, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Bananeiras, Brazil. aquinobee@aol.com
Abramson
Charles I
CI
Soares
Ademilson E E
AE
Fernandes
Andrea Cardoso
AC
Benbassat
Danny
D
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning; D001516:Bees; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013395:Sucrose; D013649:Taste
D013395:Sucrose