RADAR DETECTION OF DRONES RESPONDING TO HONEYBEE QUEEN PHEROMONE

The response of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) drones to queen pheromon e(s) (either natural from a mated queen, or synthetic from a lure) was recorded using an X-band, ground-based radar. The distribution of dro nes (insect targets on the radar screen) changed from a scattered dist ribution to a line concentration (downwind) when the pheromone was rel eased. Displacement within the line concentration was toward the phero mone. This response was seen as far as 800 +/- 15 m downwind from a lu re with 10 mg of synthetic 9-oxodec-trans-2 enoic acid (9-ODA) and as far as 420 +/- 15 m from a mated queen. These studies demonstrate that queen pheromone can be detected by drones at much greater distances t han previously believed and illustrate how X-band radar may be used to establish the distances at which insects of similar or larger size re spond to pheromones.