Sniffer bees or sniffer wasps are

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s in the order Hymenoptera that can be trained to perform a variety of tasks to detect substances such as explosive materials or

illegal drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

, as well as some human and plant

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s. The sensitivity of the olfactory senses of bees and

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s in particular have been shown to rival the abilities of

sniffer dog A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by ...

s, though they can only be trained to detect a single scent each.

Intelligence

Ethologist Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...

Karl von Frisch Karl Ritter von Frisch, (20 November 1886 – 12 June 1982) was a German-Austrian ethologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz. His work centered on investigations o ...

dedicated much of his career to the study of the sensory perceptions of the

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosm ...

and was one of the first people to translate the meaning of the

waggle dance Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nect ...

. His studies show that bees can count to five and have the capacity to be trained to visit specific feeding stations at certain times of day.Halter, Reese
Bees: man's best friend, provider and protector
2 November 2010. Accessed 6 October 2011.

Odour detection

Bees and wasps are trained using

classical conditioning Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. a triangle). It also refers to the learni ...

, being exposed to a particular odour and then rewarded with a sugar solution.Hodgson, Martin
Sniffer bees: New flying squad in war against terror
. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''. 7 May 2006. Accessed 6 October 2011. Within five minutes they learn to associate the smell with an impending supply of food and this triggers the

proboscis extension reflex Proboscis extension reflex (PER) is the extension by an insect with an extendable proboscis (e.g. a bee or fly) of her proboscis (sticking out of her tongue) as a reflex to antennal stimulation. It is evoked when a sugar solution is touched to a bee ...

(sticking out their tongues).Trained Wasps May Be Used To Detect Bombs, Bugs, Bodies And More
''

Science Daily ''Science Daily'' is an American website launched in 1995 that aggregates press releases and publishes lightly edited press releases (a practice called churnalism) about science, similar to Phys.org and EurekAlert!. The site was founded by ma ...

''. 21 October 2005. Accessed 6 October 2011. Trained hymenopterans have been shown to successfully detect explosive materials including

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

Semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B 1 ...

, and C-4 as well as

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

and propellants.Detecting Explosives With Honeybees: Experts Develop Method To Train Air Force Of Bomb-Sniffing Bees
''Science Daily''. 29 November 2006. Accessed 6 October 2011. Wasps can be trained to detect the early signs of fungal disease on crops and may have medicinal value, identifying people with cancer just by being exposed to their breath.Hall, Mimi

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

. 26 December 2005. Accessed 6 October 2011. Bees have been shown to detect and respond to more than 60 different odours including methamphetamine,

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

, and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. They have been used to detect lung and skin cancers, diabetes, and to confirm pregnancy. It is not known if they can detect potential seizures in humans. Researchers at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

have built a device named the "Wasp Hound" which contains the

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causi ...

species ''

Microplitis croceipes ''Microplitis croceipes'' is a braconid wasp native to the US state of Georgia. It is an important parasitoid of caterpillars, including those of major agricultural pests ''Helicoverpa zea'' (formerly called ''Heliothis zea'') and ''Heliothis vi ...

''. The insects normally walk around the PVC pipe in which they are housed but begin to migrate towards the source of an odour when it is the one that they were trained to recognise. These movements are tracked by a computer, with small cameras inside the device sending images for processing. Within 30 seconds of the wasps beginning to congregate near an odour source an alarm is sounded.Appel, Adrianne
Drug-Sniffing Wasps May Sting Crooks
'' National Geographic''. 27 October 2005. Accessed 6 October 2011.

References

{{reflist

External links

The early bee catches the flower - circadian rhythmicity influences learning performance in honey bees, Apis mellifera
31 July 2010.

December 2003.
First evidence of fine colour discrimination ability in ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)Bees help in the battle against tuberculosis
3 News. 27 October 2011. Animal training Apocrita