Simulating waggle dance electric fields: a tool for studying honey bee communication

Electric fields produced during the honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) waggle dance may contribute to recruitment by providing nonvisual cues in the dark hive environment. While laboratory studies suggest that follower bees can perceive these signals, experimental tools for studying electric field communication remain limited. Here, we present a new, low-cost electric field generator capable of mimicking natural waggle-dance-like signals with high temporal and amplitude precision. We validated the device across three behavioural assays. First, tethered bees walking on a spherical treadmill increased their locomotor speed when exposed to artificial waggle dance electric fields, confirming a stimulatory effect. Second, in a classical conditioning paradigm, restrained bees learned to associate the signal with a sucrose reward, demonstrating its interpretability as a meaningful cue. Third, antennal tracking in harnessed bees revealed a significant reduction in antennal movement under electric field stimulation, consistent with either attentional gating or signal detection behaviour. Together, these findings confirm that the artificial signals are both detectable and behaviourally relevant, validating the device as a tool for controlled studies of electric field communication. More broadly, this work supports the hypothesis that electric fields function as part of the honey bee dance communication and provides a platform for probing their role in multimodal signal integration. The generator may also prove useful for studying electric field sensitivity in other insect taxa. • A new apparatus generates synthetic waggle dance electric field signals. • Bees detect and respond to these signals in controlled behavioural assays. • Locomotor, conditioning and antennal responses confirm biological relevance. • The device enables precise, reproducible tests of electric communication in bees.