ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the foraging behavior of native solitary and primitively social bees by identifying individual pollen loads and larval pollen provisions in trap nests. The relationship between the efficiency and flexibility of foraging in bees with different social behaviors could be important in the evolution of sociality and the organization of bee communities. Observations were made on the modus operandi of Apis cerana indica foragers visiting cauliflower blossoms with a view to estimate the pollinating efficiencies of bees collecting either pollen on nectar or both. Proboscis lengths of Bombus ternarius individuals "majoring" on a flower species in one and two flower species stands were measured. The chapter presents an outline for the critical examination of Apis mellifera as an introduced species. Stingless bees exhibit considerable diversity in modes of communication about and recruitment to food resources, as revealed by observations of foraging on natural food sources and on grids of food dishes.
