Robert Mann enlightened us:

CLIP

>        V B Wigglesworth was a  -  I would suggest  the  -  the top
>scientist in insect physiology.  When he says as Bob quotes, you can take
>it as reliable.  If VBW said  glycogen stored in *flight muscle*  supports
>flight for only 10-20 minutes, you can infer that this animal indeed
>possesses the means to replenish that glycogen store several times daily
>(because we know bees typically fly many trips of 10-20min daily).

CLIP

   And then asked:

>        If in response it be postulated that a bee can die from inability
>to fly owing to depletion of that glycogen store while far from the hive on
>a foray, I would then ask whether it can run on sugars from nectar gathered
>on that very foray.  I would expect it to do so.  Has this been examined?

   The following paper has information that may apply in part:

Southwick,E.E. and S.L. Buchmann.  1995.  Effects of horizon landmarks on
homing success in honey bees.  THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  146:748-764

   The experimenters released marked foragers at different distances and
measured the fraction of returnees as a function of distance, as well as
the time it took those bees to return to their colonies.

   In their Figure 3, the time for 90% return from 2.75km away was about
1400 minutes.  Under Wigglesworth's statement, those bees would have had to
use nectar for their return flights.

                                                                Adrian

Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106  [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm]

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*    "The history of science teaches us that each time we think
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*  in store for us that requires significant and sometimes drastic
*  changes in how we think the world works."
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