Kartsev V.M. 2025. Learning in bees Apis mellifera L. and wasps Vespula spp. when visiting several artificial flowers of different quality // Russian Entomol. J. Vol.34. No.3: 318–325 [in English].
Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobyevy Gory, Moscow 119234 Russia.
Vladimir Kartsev: v-kartsev@yandex.ru ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6920-6959
doi: 10.15298/rusentj.34.3.03
ABSTRACT. In field experiments, individually marked bee or wasp regularly flew to artificial flowers for sweet lure. The flowers, identical in appearance and smell, differed in the presence of food in them. In a row of four flowers, to get satiated, it was necessary to collect “nectar” (sugar water) from the 1st and 3rd flowers, and the 2nd and 4th ones contained an aversive stimulus (a strong NaCl solution). As a result, the studied insects were divided into three groups: 1) some individuals statistically significantly learned to choose flowers with sugar water and did not check flowers without it, remembering their location — “solved the task”; 2) some individuals chose flowers randomly; 3) the remaining individuals (only some bees) regularly chose all the flowers in a row, while trying an unpleasant aversive stimulus. The wasps coped with the task better than the bees. For wasps, unlike bees, the task was made easier by some increasing the distance between experimental flowers. Differences were found between groups of bees of different breeds/subspecies as well. Problems associated with assessing the cognitive abilities of animals are discussed.
KEY WORDS: Apis mellifera, Vespula, learning, artificial flowers, cognition.