Phylogeny

The ability to learn and interpret information from the waggle dance is seen across many be species (Raffiundin and Crozier 2006).  From a comparative analysis of the bee dance among species, it has been inferred that the ability to communicate food source locations had a strong adaptive value in a common bee ancestor.

Did Bees Coevolve with Flowers in an Arms-Race with Other Pollinators?

  • Bees learn better in the morning (when flowers usually bloom)
  • Bees will learn where good sources of food are first thing in the morning, and will be able to return to those sources throughout the day. (Lehmann, Gustav et al. 2011)
  • Bees might have genetic preferences for certain odors, much like some bees have genetic preferences for certain flower colors (Reichle, Jarau, et al. 2010).
  • Honey bees have evolved to learn better when it's light than when it's dark, and best of all in the morning (Lehmann, Gustav et al. 2011).

These facts supports the hypothesis that bees co-evolved with flowers; the flowers that open first will be what the bee goes to, and the bee that learns an odor earliest in the day will have an advantage over other pollinators that would take longer to find a good food source for the day.

Absence of PER in Megachilidae

Some bees (such as Osmia lignaria and Megachile rotundata/pugnata) that do not express PER. (Vorel and Pitts-Singer 2010)  These bees are from the family Megachilidae, while bees documented exhibiting PER are from Apidae, suggesting a possible connection between the PER and where an insect lies on the phylogenetic tree.  If this were true, it would be incredibly interesting to learn why Apidae bees evolved PER while Megachilidae bees did not.