Foraging behavior of major pollinators in bitter gourd

Abstract

The foraging behavior i.e., foraging speed (Second spent/flower) and foraging rate (No. of flowers visited/min.) on bitter gourd flowers was observed over two consecutive seasons, kharif 2022 and kharif 2023. Musca domestica showed the highest foraging speed around 21.6 and 21.8 seconds per flower, while P. flavus had the lowest at approximately 4.6 and 4.5 seconds per flower in kharif 2022 and 2023, respectively. Polistes flavus had the highest foraging rate, visiting 5.20 and 5.10 flowers per minute, in kharif 2022 and 2023, respectively. Whereas, P. rapae showed the lowest foraging rate with 1.20 flowers per minute in both seasons.