Life cycle of honeybee (original) (raw)
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H oney bees (Apis mellifera L.) are one of the most well-known, popular and economically beneficial insects. For thousands of years, man has plundered honey bee colonies to get honey, bee larvae and beeswax. In recent decades, bee plundering has given way to bee management. Now, honey bees are commonly kept in artificial hives throughout the United States, and a large and sophisticated beekeeping industry provides valuable honey, beeswax and pollination services. A large section of the industry, well represented in Georgia, is devoted to mass-producing queens and bees for sale to other beekeepers. Although many people make a living from bees, most beekeepers are hobbyists who have only a few hives and who simply enjoy working with these fascinating insects. Honey Bee Biology Honey bees, like ants, termites and some wasps, are social insects. Unlike ants and wasps, bees are vegetarians; their protein comes from pollen and their carbohydrate comes from honey, which they make from nectar. Social insects live together in groups, cooperate in foraging tasks and the care of young, and have different types, or "castes," of individuals. There are three castes of honey bees (see photos on page 4): Workers-Reproductively underdeveloped females that do all the work of the colony. A colony may have 2,000 to 60,000 workers. Queen-A fully fertile female specialized for producing eggs. When a queen dies or is lost, workers select a few young worker larvae and feed them a special food called "royal jelly." These special larvae develop into queens. The only difference between workers and queens is the quality of the larval diet. There is usually only one queen per colony. The queen also affects the colony by producing chemicals called "pheromones" that regulate the behavior of other bees. Drones-Male bees. A colony may have 0 to 500 drones during spring and summer. Drones fly from the hive and mate in the air with queens from other colonies.
REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES AND TROPHIC INTERACTIONS OF HONEYBEES: A REVIEW
The value of Honey-bees as pollinators far outnumbered it production of Honey, Bee-wax and Propolis. The aim of this study is to give an overview of the various interactions of honeybees in the ecosystem. Honey bees are classified into the genus Apis which includes five main species, the common honeybee (Apis mellifera), the giant honeybee (A. dorsata), the Indian honeybee (A. laboriosa), the Asian honeybee (A. cerana) and the little honeybee (A. florea). Honeybee casts consist of the Queen (Reproductive female), drones (Males) and workers (Sterile females). Bees depend on flowers for resources both in terms of their own energy needs as well as for the survival of thec olony. Plants use chemical components to attract honeybees to visit flowers and facilitate efficient transfer of pollen. This serves as communication cues to interact with each other and for management of colony. Pheromones produce by the queen known as the queen retinue pheromone (QRP) entices worker bees to lick and antennate the queen to gather a small sample of this attractive blend. Queen retinue pheromone (QRP) acts as a primer pheromone by physiologically inhibiting worker ovary development and as a releaser pheromone by attracting worker bees to the queen. Defence of the nest plays a vital role in the biology of honeybees. Defensive behaviour is induced and modulated by pheromones. These alarm pheromones are produced in the sting apparatus and mandibular gland of worker bees. Some factors that limit the establishment of honey bee include; pest, parasites, habitat lose, land management practices (LMP) and colony collapse disorder (CCD).
An observation study on the effects of queen age on some characteristics of honey bee colonies
Italian Journal of Animal Science, 2010
This study was conducted to determine the effects of the queen's age on performance of the honeybee (A. mellifera anatoliaca) colonies at nomad beekeeping conditions. Performances of the colonies, which had 0, 1, 2 and 3 year-old queens, were compared. The number of combs, brood areas, wintering ability survival rate and honey yield were determined as performance criteria. The average number of combs with bees throughout the experiment in Group I, Group II, Group III and Group IV was 10.92±0.78, 14.68±0.55, 10.10±0.60, 7.88±0.45 number combs/colony; the average of brood areas was 3078±372.5 cm 2 , 3668±460.3 cm 2 , 2215±294.0 cm 2 , 1665.38±241.8 cm 2 ; the average of wintering ability was 84.3±2.9%, 88.0±3.7%, 46.6±19.0%, 26.8±16.5%; the survival rate was 100%, 100%, 60%, 40%; and the average of honey yields was 31.4±1.89 kg, 41.5±1.05 kg, 20.4±2.62 kg and 12.0±1.41 kg per colony, respectively. A significant and negative correlation between queen age and brood production (r=-80.2), colony strength (r=-62.5), wintering ability (r=-66) and honey yield (r=-75.6) were calculated (P<0.01). The colonies headed by young queens had more brood areas, longer worker colony population, better wintering ability and greater honey yield in comparison to colonies headed by old queens.
Journal of Basic and Applied Zoology volume, 2021
Background: There is one queen in each honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colony under normal conditions. This queen performs egg laying and pheromonal control in the colony. All genetic characteristics of bee workers and drones depend on the queen. This reflects the importance of bee queen in the colony. In this review, behaviors of honey bee queens are presented and further studies are suggested to fill in gaps in knowledge. Main body: The major studies about behaviors of honey bee queens either inside or outside the colony were reviewed. Some behavioral aspects especially egg laying pattern, sperm storage and utilization, conflict between queens, and the role of the queens in swarming and absconding have gained relatively few attention. Also, some other points such as the ability of a queen to transmit parasites after mating to her offspring and effects of pesticides on queen rearing and characteristics of emerged queens were highlighted. Conclusion: This study highlighted the points that require further detailed studies. This review article may stimulate others toward performing specific future studies on bee queens.
Rearing Drones in Queen Cells of Apis mellifera Honey Bees
Journal of Apicultural Science, 2016
We investigated the rearing of drone larvae grafted in queen cells. From the 1200 drone larvae that were grafted during spring and autumn, 875 were accepted (72.9%) and reared as queens. Drone larvae in false queen cells received royal jelly of the same composition and of the same amounts as queen larvae. Workers capped the queen cells as if they were drones, 9-10 days after the egg laying. Out of 60 accepted false queen cells, 21 (35%) were capped. The shape of false queen cells with drone larvae is unusually long with a characteristically elongate tip which is probably due to the falling of larvae. Bees start the destruction of the cells when the larvae were 3 days old and maximised it before and after capping. Protecting false queen cells in the colony by wrapping, reversing them upside down, or placing in a horizontal position, did not help. The only adult drones that emerged from the false queen cells were those protected in an incubator and in push-in cages. Adult drones from ...
Some reproductive characteristics of honeybee drones in relation to their ages
Entomological Research, 2010
The number of spermatozoa, length of testis, length of mucus gland and weights of drones were estimated in caged and free honeybee drones in relation to their ages. For this purpose, three Carniolan colonies were used as sources of drones and two were used as nursery colonies. The drones were held either in cages or freely in the queenless part of the nursery colonies. Measurements were carried out on samples of drones taken at 3-day intervals from 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15 days old. While the number of spermatozoa in drone testes decreased in both caged and free drones as the drone age increased, it increased gradually in the seminal vesicles. The results also showed that weight of drones and length of testes decreased, but the length of the mucus gland did not significantly differ with age. Further, the drones' weight, length of mucus gland and total number of spermatozoa tend to be slightly larger in the caged than in free drones. The total number of spermatozoa in all parts of the reproductive organs was lower in the older than younger drones; thus, the number of spermatozoa in the newly emerged drones does not help to predict the real number reaching the queen during mating.
Differences between queen- and worker-laid male eggs of the honey bee ( Apis mellifera )
Apidologie, 2009
In this study, we investigated whether differences in the reproductive biology of honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens and laying workers are reflected in their eggs. We first tested the capacity of queen-and worker-laid male eggs to withstand dry conditions, by incubating samples at 30.0, 74.9, and 98.7% relative humidity. We found that worker-laid eggs were more sensitive to desiccation. Secondly, we measured the weight and quantities of vitellin, total protein, lipid, glycogen, and free carbohydrate in queen-and workerlaid eggs. Although worker-laid eggs were found to be heavier than queen-laid eggs in two of the four replicates, no systematic differences were found regarding nutrient content. Finally, we compared the duration of embryo development in the two egg types. Worker-laid eggs developed more slowly than queen-laid eggs in two out of three replicates, suggesting that they may only be partly mature at the moment they are laid. Possible causes and consequences of the observed differences are discussed.
Young Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) Queens Perform Better than Old Ones
American Journal of Life Sciences, 2019
A productivity of queen bee depends on several factors. Queen age is one of the most important factors affecting queen's, as well as colony performance. The study was conducted to determine the effects of queen ages on performances of honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies. The queens were reared from local honeybee, Apis mellifera bandasii (A. m. bandasii); nuclei colonies were formed and then transferred to standard Langstroth hives when all the frames of the nuclei boxes were occupied with brood and adult bees. Performances of the colonies headed by the new queens were evaluated over three years. Brood area, number of queen cell cups started and swarm queen cells constructed, number of empty cells/100 cells/per colony (brood solidness) and honey yield per harvest were determined every active season for three consecutive years. Colonies headed by 1-, 2-and 3-year-old queens produced 4721.43±511.85, 5523.08±490.07 and 3433.82±413.83 cm 2 sealed brood, and constructed 0.07±0.07, 2.23±0.52 and 9.90±1.89 queen cell cups and swarm cells/colony with 1.86±0.38, 2.40±1.65 and 8.85±2.52 empty cells/100 cells/per colony, respectively. Honey harvested from 1-and 3-year-old queen colonies averaged 13.34±1.11 and 10.50±2.04 kg/colony/harvest, respectively. The colonies headed by 1-, and 2-year-old queens had more brood areas, better brood solidity, less number of queen cells but no significant differences in honey production compared to colonies headed by 3-year-old queens. Our results indicate that queen age has a significant effect on colony performances, suggesting that requeening every three years is adequate for our local honeybee colonies.
Egg viability and worker policing in honey bees
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004
In many species of social Hymenoptera, unmated workers can lay eggs that will produce males by parthenogenesis. Nevertheless, in queenright honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera), worker reproduction is low. One possible mechanism for this difference is worker policing, the removal of worker-laid eggs by other workers. This behavior can evolve in species in which queens are multiply mated, where workers are more closely related to the sons of their mother than those of their sisters. Another possible mechanism of the low level of worker reproduction is worker-laid eggs being less viable than queen-laid eggs. We show that this difference in quality is the case for honey bees. W orker reproduction is low in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies with a queen (1, 2), because a suite of pheromones derived from the queen and the brood inhibits ovarian development in workers (3). Moreover, workers with developed ovaries are attacked by other workers (4). Nevertheless, a considerable proportion (Ϸ4%) of workers can have functional ovaries (5) and can lay a substantial number (7%) of male eggs (6). Therefore, a crucial factor restricting successful worker reproduction in honey bees seems to be the removal of workerlaid eggs by other workers (worker policing) (7). Worker policing has been the focus of many theoretical and empirical studies in a wide range of species of social Hymenoptera (7-12). This behavior is considered adaptive in species in which queens mate multiply, causing workers to be on average more closely related to the son's of the queen than with sons of other workers .