Failure to Find Proboscis Conditioning in One-Day Old Africanized Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera L,) and in Adult Uru§u. Honey bees (Melipona Scutellaris)

Abstract

The proboscis extension reflex was used to investigate behaviormodification in one day old Africanized honey bees and in adult Uru^u honey bees.Experiments were designed to investigate classical conditioning, pseudoconditioning,and central excitatory state. Additional experiments examined the suitability of theproboscis extension reflex to serve as a feeding assay were carried out on Urugu. Theresults indicated no classical conditioning and no pseudoconditioning in youngAfricanized bees or in the adult Uru9u. A large central excitatory effect was observed inyoung Africanized bees, but only a small effect was observed in Urugu. The proboscisextension reflex could be used as an assay to test the suitability of artificial diets inUru§u