Yale Simkin insightfully writes:
>
> Hi...
> I have a question about the evolution of recruiting behavior in honeybees. As
> you know, when a worker finds a food source,  she returns to the hive and
> conducts a quite elaborate dance. This informs the other workers as to the
> direction and distance of the food supply.
 
1.  According to the current theoretical fashion, that's the story...  See
Wenner & Wells 1990 for criticism of theory.
 
 
This behavior must have evolved in
> a step-wise manner, beginning with some sort of pre-adaptation that was
> gradually modified and elaborated.
 
I wonder about your use of the word "must".  But this seems plausible.
 
I have been unable to discover any
> generally available references that describes this particular process. I
> recognize that the actual steps may be unretrievable history, but I am simply
> interested in PLAUSIBLE pathways, sufficient to demonstrate the adequacy of
> step-wise evolution by natural selection to produce elaborate instinctual
> behavior.
 
See last 1/2 of chapter 3 of Von Frisch (1950/1971) Cornell Uni Press, for
something of this sort.
 
I should warn you that:
1.  It is fallacious to ever say that anything "evolved".  Doing so is
teleological and contra orthodox Darwinism.
1a.  Everyone (including all scientists) do 1. so you might as well too.
 
2.  The Dance language theory is especially vulnerable to 1.  for an
interesting discussion of Darwinism, you might want to see "vaulting
Ambition" by Philip kitcher (1985) MIT Press.
 
Hope this helps...
 
Phil.
 
 
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Phil Veldhuis           |  "if something is not worth doing,
Winnipeg. MB, Canada    |  it is not worth doing right"
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