Hi all
Hey, I don't mind being wrong. I found this in Bee World (1995):

Until recently honey bees have been generally regarded as totally deaf to airborne
sound. During the past five years the authors and Dr W F Towne (Kutztown University,
Pennsylvania, USA) discovered and investigated the auditory sense of honey bees.

Using the Y-maze training technique, we removed sensory hairs on the head or
one or both antennae of bees which had already learned to use the sound
in order to find the reward. Removal of all sensory hairs on the head did not affect
their ability to respond correctly to the sound, showing that these hairs are, at least
in our training paradigm, not used as ears. Removal of one antennae reduced the
probability of correct choices in the Y-maze. When both antennae were removed
the bees still continued to forage in the maze, but could no longer find the reward
other than by chance. Thus, the bee's ear is located on the antenna.

When the joints on both sides of the
pedicel of one antenna were blocked, the bees performed as poorly as bees which
had only one antenna. However, when the distal joint of the pedicel was free, they
heard as well as without the cuff. The ear of the bee must therefore be in this distal
joint of the pedicel of the antenna.

Thus, the auditory sense organ must be inside
the joint. In histological sections (fig. 5d) we can finally see the bee's ear. A group
of sensory structures, so-called scolopidia, form a ring-shaped sense organ within
the pedicel, called Johnston's organ. Johnston's organ has also been shown to be
used by some flies and mosquitoes to perceive airborne sounds

FIG. 5D. A longitudinal section through the pedicel shows the bee's ear, Johnston's organ, which is a ring
of mechanosensory cells (scolopidia, sc) sensing movement of the intersegmental membrane bet".Jeen
pedicel and flagellum induced by sound deflecting the flagellum.

[comment: sorry, can't display images in Bee-L]

SOURCE:
Dreller, C., & Kirchner, W. H. (1995). The sense of hearing in honey bees. Bee World, 76(1), 6-17.

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