This report is one in a series of papers on the reproductive behavior of the solitary bee Centris pallida Fox. Elsewhere we have shown that males of this species exhibit a behavioral dimorphism in mate-location strategies, with some males flying low over the ground searching for virgin females about to emerge and other males hovering around the borders of emergence sites as well as by flowering trees (Alcock et al., 1976; in press). The patrollers excavate virgin females from their emergence tunnels and then copulate with them; hoverers secure mates by pursuing air-borne virgins which they capture in flight. Our earlier studies left unanswered several questions about the spatial organization of male populations of this bee, including 1) Do patrolling males exhibit loyalty to a particular portion of an emergence site and if so, for how many days?
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John Alcock (1976) studied this question.