http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00173139409428989 1994 Pollen morphology and its effect on pollenl collection by honey bees, Apis Mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special Reference to Upland Cotton, Gossypium Hirsutum L. (Malvaceae) Bernard E. Vaissière & S. Bradleigh Vinson Honey bees, Apis riiellifera, forage readily on flowers of upland cotton, Gossjpirrni /zirsrrtrrrti, to harvest nectar. The abundant pollen gets caught in the haircoat of the bees, but cotton pollen is nevertheless rarely collected. Honey bee pollen collection effectiveness was therefore investigated in a flight room using cotton and five other spheroidal pollen taxa presented in sequence. Honey bees visited all pollen dishes, but ohra pollen (Abcbrroschrrs escirlerzrrrs) was never packed successfully by the bees landing in the pollen dish. Cotton pollen was collected by 16% of the landing foragers, pumpkin pollen (Crtcrrrbifa pep) by 7 1%. and pollen of corn (Zen rrrajs), pigweed (Aiiroraritlirrs palnzeri), and sunflower (Heliarithrrs arrrirm) were readily collected by nearly all foragers. The amount of time spent in the pollen dish was always short (I to 9 seconds) and homogeneous among all pollen taxa, indicating that none of them was strongly repellent to the bees. The reduced effectiveness with which honey bees collected cotton pollen was demonstrated by the longer amount of time needed for pollen grooming and packing between two consecutive landings in the pollen dish and the small size of cotton pollen pellets (averages of 0.42 mg and 8.23 mg per pellet for cotton and corn pollen, respectively). This reduced efficiency in cotton pollen collection was associated primarily with the length of the spines on cotton pollen which physically interfered with the pollen aggregating process used by honey bees. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html