Bees Communicate With Electric Fields

sciencehabit writes "The electric fields that build up on honey bees as they fly, flutter their wings, or rub body parts together may allow the insects to talk to each other, a new study suggests. Tests show that the electric fields, which can be quite strong, deflect the bees' antennae, which, in turn, provide signals to the brain through specialized organs at their bases. Antenna deflections induced by an electrically charged honey bee wing are about 10 times the size of those that would be caused by airflow from the wing fluttering at the same distance—a sign that electrical fields could be an important signal."

Waggle dance

[Spottywot]

It occurred to me initially, that if the effect is only really noticeable after flight then the only information that they could usefully communicate by this method would be how recently they had completed a flight. It then occurred to me that bees perform a waggle dance [google.com] which is believed to instruct other bees in the hive where to find food sources. The electrostatic effect on the antenna would be most effective at this time, and also seems to solve one of my issues with the waggle dance theory, which is that it seems most effective as a visual form of communication when viewed from above, which of course the bees do not do.The electrostatic explanation would work, as the dance could manipulate the antennea in the manner of an operator inputting directions using a joystick.