Visuo-motor biases in buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris)

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior
• Neuroscience
• Evolutionary biology

Background:

• Bees are valuable models for studying the evolution of lateralization.
• Previous research primarily focused on olfactory learning and memory in tethered bees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate behavioral biases in free-flying buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris).
• To analyze turning decisions in a T-maze task mimicking foraging behavior.
• To explore the relationship between bee size and observed behavioral biases.

Main Methods:

• Buff-tailed bumblebees were trained to associate a syrup reward with a visual target in a T-maze.
• Bees were tested over 16 trials, with maze rotation after 8 trials to control for environmental factors.
• Turning decisions (left vs. right) were recorded, and thorax width was measured to assess size-bias correlation.

Main Results:

• A population-level rightward turning bias was observed in the bumblebees.
• No significant correlation was found between bee size (thorax width) and the observed turning bias.
• The results indicate lateralization in a visuo-motor task relevant to foraging.

Conclusions:

• Bumblebees display behavioral lateralization in a task mimicking natural foraging.
• This suggests a potential specialization of the right side of the nervous system for routine tasks in bees.
• The findings contribute to understanding the evolution of brain lateralization in insects.