HONEYBEES ESTABLISH SPECIFIC SITES ON THE COMB FOR THEIR WAGGLE DANCES

Successful honeybee foragers perform dances on the surface of the comb where they interact with nectar receivers and dance followers. We hav e recorded the sites at which dances take place in large ten-frame hiv es and in two-frame observation hives. We find that dancing bees are m ost commonly found on particular combs in large hives and in particula r areas on the combs in the observation hives. Although the site where dances take place may change from day to day, dancers will keep to th e same site during the foraging period in any one day. Furthermore, if an established dance site is artificially relocated in the hive durin g the day, dancers seek these sites out before commencing their dances . We conclude that the dance sites are labelled in some way and so pro mote the congregation of both dancers and dance followers at the same site.