Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

First night bees recorded foraging in 'dark'


Still Waters

Recommended Posts

Australian bees are known for pollinating plants on beautiful sunny days, but a new study has identified two species that have adapted their vision for night-time conditions for the first time.

The study by a team of ecology researchers has observed night time foraging behaviour by a nomiine (Reepenia bituberculata) and masked (Meroglossa gemmata) bee species, with both developing enlarged compound and simple eyes which allow more light to be gathered when compared to their daytime kin.

Published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, the researchers explain that this improved low-light ability could potentially also exist in other Australian species secretly active at night, with their image processing ability best observed through high-resolution close-up images.

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-australian-night-bees-foraging-darkness.html

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
3 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Australian bees are known for pollinating plants on beautiful sunny days, but a new study has identified two species that have adapted their vision for night-time conditions for the first time.

The study by a team of ecology researchers has observed night time foraging behaviour by a nomiine (Reepenia bituberculata) and masked (Meroglossa gemmata) bee species, with both developing enlarged compound and simple eyes which allow more light to be gathered when compared to their daytime kin.

Published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, the researchers explain that this improved low-light ability could potentially also exist in other Australian species secretly active at night, with their image processing ability best observed through high-resolution close-up images.

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-australian-night-bees-foraging-darkness.html

We have something similar in Canada. My mothers night scenting flowers would attract some weird looking bee species. I never noticed it before because....well it's dark. We had a evening yard party, and I was pretty buzzed myself sitting amongst the night scented stalk when I noticed  small bees visiting the flowers. I learned later that some bee's are nocturnal. Just not the honey bees. Night bees are smart bees. Much less predators to worry about. Mainly wasps, the proud boys of the insect world. Then there are all the insecivorous birds to worry about. Not at night though.

Edited by Hankenhunter
Content
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.