SITE FIDELITY AND HOMING ABILITY OF MALES OF DAWSON BURROWING BEE (AMEGILLA-DAWSONI) (APIDAE, ANTHOPHORINI)

Hundreds of males of Dawson's burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, often s earch together for emerging, receptive females in large, open areas. M ales usually patrolled a small fraction of any one emergence site, lim iting their search to areas roughly 25 m(2). In addition, marked males that were displaced 75 m from their restricted search area returned a nd most individuals immediately relocated the spot where they had been captured while waiting for an emerging female. The same pattern of si te fidelity and homing when displaced was observed in males that patro lled for mates in the periphery of emergence areas; marked individuals were regularly recaptured where they had been first taken, and some m ales that were experimentally displaced returned promptly to their pat rolling routes. Strong site fidelity and homing ability may help patro lling males become highly familiar with a manageable number of potenti al contact points for mates along a ''trapline.'' Males with detailed spatial information may be able to minimize travel time between contac t points, thereby maximizing encounters with emerging females.