PLSC 311 Lecture 8: Lecture 8 PLSC 311
Lecture 8: Mating biology of the honey bee
- queen honey bee mated on the wing, outside and away frim the hive, never in the hive
(Huber discovered this)
othis can minimize inbreeding
- once oviposition is begun, the queen does not mate again, in fact, she will continue to
lay eggs for up to 3-4 years
- the queen stores sperm received at mating in her spermatheca, on average can hold 5.5
million sperm cells
- normally 7-10 days after hatching from her cell, this is when the queen’s mandibular
glands (produce queen’s substance pheromone) are producing lots of 9-ODA; then the
queen takes 1-5 mating flights at this time
- the queen tends to fly between 2-4PM on favorable sunny days
othis tends to coincide with maximum drone flight activity
- A. cerana, A Florea, A dorasata queens and drones fly at particular times of the day-
assists the absence of hybridization
- Mating flights may be delayed by unfavorable weather- older queens tend to mate less
successfully
oIf its cloudy and less than 20 degrees Celsius for A. Meliffera
-Drones: not ready to mate until 11-12 days’ post emergence from their brood cell
oTakes time for sperm maturation to occur in the drone’s sex organs, testes
oEach drone can produce 10 million sperm cells
A lot of sperm cells might get transferred but might not enter the
spermatheca successfully
- Each queen normally mates with 6-17 drones- even if she did mate with a closely related
drone (examples: brother from same hive), she will mate with several unrelated drones
this is good for avoiding inbreeding
- Flying drones are located in “congregation areas” where they assemble in large numbers
and waiting for passing queens
oMating occurs in these areas about 10-30 meters above ground
-Mating sign: found at the abdomen tip of a returned queen bee (now mated)
oIt represents the torn genital of an adult drone
oWorker bees will pull at the mating sign to free the queen, if she cannot remove
the mating sign herself
oThe queen may depart the hive again, for further mating
- 12-20 km for mating (queens and drones will find each other)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Mating flights may be delayed by unfavorable weather- older queens tend to mate less successfully: if its cloudy and less than 20 degrees celsius for a. meliffera. Drones: not ready to mate until 11-12 days" post emergence from their brood cell: takes time for sperm maturation to occur in the drone"s sex organs, testes, each drone can produce 10 million sperm cells. A lot of sperm cells might get transferred but might not enter the spermatheca successfully. Each queen normally mates with 6-17 drones- even if she did mate with a closely related drone (examples: brother from same hive), she will mate with several unrelated drones this is good for avoiding inbreeding. Flying drones are located in congregation areas where they assemble in large numbers and waiting for passing queens: mating occurs in these areas about 10-30 meters above ground.
