author(s)
Prem Prakash Gautam, Neeraj Kumar and Munna Kumar Nishad

abstract
The foraging behaviour of Carpenter bee (Xylocopa fenestrata Fab.) was studied in ridge gourd, Luffa acutangula under field condition at University Apiary, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur (Bihar) during the year of 2016-17 in Kharif season. The results on foraging behaviour of Xylocopa fenestrata revealed that the bees started visiting ridge gourd flowers in early morning and ceased their activity later in the evening. It remained active throughout the flowering period. The minimum foraging rate of X. fenestrata was 3.9 flowers/minute in the morning hours (0700-h) and 3.2 flowers/minute in evening hours (1700-h) however, maximum was 7.3 flowers/minute during the mid day hours (1300-h). The maximum foraging speed was 17.6 sec. in morning hours (0700-h) and 23.5 sec. in evening hours (1700-h) while minimum 11.1 sec. in mid day hours (1300-h) and there was inverse relation between foraging rate and foraging speed. The heaviest pollen load carried by the Xylocopa was 28.54 mg in the evening hour (1700-h) while lightest pollen load was carried 9.75 mg in mid day hour (1300-h) which indicated that more pollen was collected by Xylocopa during morning and evening hours from ridge gourd flowers.