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First published online February 15, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 678-685 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.013920

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Thoracic vibrations in stingless bees (Melipona seminigra): resonances of the thorax influence vibrations associated with flight but not those associated with sound production

Michael Hrncir^1,2,*, Anne-Isabelle Gravel³, Dirk Louis P. Schorkopf², Veronika M. Schmidt², Ronaldo Zucchi¹ and Friedrich G. Barth²

¹ Department of Biology, University of São Paulo, FFCLRP, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14040–901 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
² Department of Neurobiology and Cognition Research, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
³ Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: michael.hrncir{at}gmx.at)

Accepted 14 November 2007

Bees generate thoracic vibrations with their indirect flight muscles in various behavioural contexts. The main frequency component of non-flight vibrations, during which the wings are usually folded over the abdomen, is higher than that of thoracic vibrations that drive the wing movements for flight. So far, this has been concluded from an increase in natural frequency of the oscillating system in association with the wing adduction. In the present study, we measured the thoracic oscillations in stingless bees during stationary flight and during two types of non-flight behaviour, annoyance buzzing and forager communication, using laser vibrometry. As expected, the flight vibrations met all tested assumptions for resonant oscillations: slow build-up and decay of amplitude; increased frequency following reduction of the inertial load; and decreased frequency following an increase of the mass of the oscillating system. Resonances, however, do not play a significant role in the generation of non-flight vibrations. The strong decrease in main frequency at the end of the pulses indicates that these were driven at a frequency higher than the natural frequency of the system. Despite significant differences regarding the main frequency components and their oscillation amplitudes, the mechanism of generation is apparently similar in annoyance buzzing and forager vibrations. Both types of non-flight vibration induced oscillations of the wings and the legs in a similar way. Since these body parts transform thoracic oscillations into airborne sounds and substrate vibrations, annoyance buzzing can also be used to study mechanisms of signal generation and transmission potentially relevant in forager communication under controlled conditions.

Key words: stingless bees, thoracic vibration, forager vibration, annoyance buzzing, flight vibration, resonance, natural frequency, laser vibrometry

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