Apiculture Biology (correct answers)
Caste system correct answers Three castes:
- Queen
- Drones
- Workers
Sex is controlled by haplodiploidy but determined by the queen.
- Males are haploid (drones)
- Females are diploid (queens and workers)
Female doesnt fertilize her eggs
-drone.
Female fertilizes her egg:
- Well-fed bee becomes queens
- Not well fed bees become worker bees.
Each caste plays a different role in the function of the colony.
Caste 1: Queen Honey Bees correct answers One queen lays all the eggs in a hive.
- Queen is the most important bee in the colony
Queens lay approximately 500,000 eggs over her 2-3 year life span
Queen bees produce "queen substance" from her mandibular glands
- Pheromone keeps workers from laying eggs and limits supersedure behavior and
stabilizes the colony
Caste 1: Brood frames correct answers Queen honey bees lay eggs in the center of a
brood frame and spiral outward from there
Bees in the center are usually immature, bees on the exterior are older.
Bees think of everything as spherical
You get circular brood patterns
You get a band of pollen that goes on the top of the brood.
Most frames have a band of honey above the band of pollen up to the top part of the
nest
Queens lay eggs in circular patterns, which produce a spherical shape.
Caste 2: Drone Honey Bees correct answers Drones aren't a TRUE caste.
,Only job is to mate with virgin queens! Most drones never acomplish this.
After emerging they spend a week or two flying orientation flights.
They begin flying for 2-4 hrs. each afternoon at drone congregation areas.
- Areas where drones congregate to look for queens for food.
- Drones have large eyes so they can find queens to mate with.
Caste 2: Drone Honey Bees (Mating) correct answers Few mate successfully.
In hive, drones are tended by the workers
Drones contribute little to the function of the colony.
They consume food and lounge around from their sister bees. They can't feed
themselves.
They are kicked out of the hive by worker bees when winter arrives. They are kicked out
of the colony.
Drones have bad "pr" with beekeepers, because they don't do anything in the colony.
- However, they contribute half of the genetics.
- We need to revise our views of drones.
Caste 3: Worker honey bees correct answers Workers do not lay eggs with a healthy
queen present
If a queen is failing or absent, workers can lay unfertilized eggs (which turn into drones)
Cape honey bees (An African subspp.) workers can lay diploid eggs (FEMALE BEES!)
Instead of reproducing workers care for the hive, including performing most of the tasks
in and outside of the nests.
Mating: Drone Reproductive Organs correct answers Queens and Drones
Endophallus
- Stored inside the drones body. A small explosion takes place to push out the organ
Semen - On the end of the endophallus
Mating: Drone Reproductive Organs 2 correct answers Queen bees have ovaries and a
spermatheca from which they store semen from the drones that they mate with.
Tracheal net covers the round spermatheca
, Clear spermatheca (VIRGIN bee)
Once mating, the drone deposits semen into the spermatheca from which the queen
can use and draw from for the rest of her life!
Honey Bee Mating Behavior correct answers Virgin queens (1-2wks) leave the nest, fly
into the air and seek out drone congregation areas.
Pheromones allow drones to be attracted
Why don't virgin queens mate within the colony????
- If they stay in the nest, they are mating with their brothers (GROSS)
- Minimizes inbreeding
Drone
- Endophallus
-- Deposits semen and is stored in the spermatheca
Queen honey bee
- Mates with 17 different drones
- Has a pool of semen with many drones
- When she lays she has a 1/17 chance that the bee has the same father.
- Diverse genetics allows them to confer resistance (Varroa mites)
- Social insect colony that can weather many different storms.
Metamorphosis correct answers Queen returns to the colony
- Emerges from a cell
- Begins laying eggs
- Queen looks into cells
-- CLEAN?
-- VACCANT?
-- MEASURE the size of the cell with her antennae
Small cell?
- Worker
Large cell?
- Unfertilized eggs --> Drone
Backs her abdomen up to the cell and lays an egg
Complete metamorphosis correct answers Honey bees undergo complete
metamorphesis
Egg
Larva - stands up into a pre-pupa
Pupa -
Caste system correct answers Three castes:
- Queen
- Drones
- Workers
Sex is controlled by haplodiploidy but determined by the queen.
- Males are haploid (drones)
- Females are diploid (queens and workers)
Female doesnt fertilize her eggs
-drone.
Female fertilizes her egg:
- Well-fed bee becomes queens
- Not well fed bees become worker bees.
Each caste plays a different role in the function of the colony.
Caste 1: Queen Honey Bees correct answers One queen lays all the eggs in a hive.
- Queen is the most important bee in the colony
Queens lay approximately 500,000 eggs over her 2-3 year life span
Queen bees produce "queen substance" from her mandibular glands
- Pheromone keeps workers from laying eggs and limits supersedure behavior and
stabilizes the colony
Caste 1: Brood frames correct answers Queen honey bees lay eggs in the center of a
brood frame and spiral outward from there
Bees in the center are usually immature, bees on the exterior are older.
Bees think of everything as spherical
You get circular brood patterns
You get a band of pollen that goes on the top of the brood.
Most frames have a band of honey above the band of pollen up to the top part of the
nest
Queens lay eggs in circular patterns, which produce a spherical shape.
Caste 2: Drone Honey Bees correct answers Drones aren't a TRUE caste.
,Only job is to mate with virgin queens! Most drones never acomplish this.
After emerging they spend a week or two flying orientation flights.
They begin flying for 2-4 hrs. each afternoon at drone congregation areas.
- Areas where drones congregate to look for queens for food.
- Drones have large eyes so they can find queens to mate with.
Caste 2: Drone Honey Bees (Mating) correct answers Few mate successfully.
In hive, drones are tended by the workers
Drones contribute little to the function of the colony.
They consume food and lounge around from their sister bees. They can't feed
themselves.
They are kicked out of the hive by worker bees when winter arrives. They are kicked out
of the colony.
Drones have bad "pr" with beekeepers, because they don't do anything in the colony.
- However, they contribute half of the genetics.
- We need to revise our views of drones.
Caste 3: Worker honey bees correct answers Workers do not lay eggs with a healthy
queen present
If a queen is failing or absent, workers can lay unfertilized eggs (which turn into drones)
Cape honey bees (An African subspp.) workers can lay diploid eggs (FEMALE BEES!)
Instead of reproducing workers care for the hive, including performing most of the tasks
in and outside of the nests.
Mating: Drone Reproductive Organs correct answers Queens and Drones
Endophallus
- Stored inside the drones body. A small explosion takes place to push out the organ
Semen - On the end of the endophallus
Mating: Drone Reproductive Organs 2 correct answers Queen bees have ovaries and a
spermatheca from which they store semen from the drones that they mate with.
Tracheal net covers the round spermatheca
, Clear spermatheca (VIRGIN bee)
Once mating, the drone deposits semen into the spermatheca from which the queen
can use and draw from for the rest of her life!
Honey Bee Mating Behavior correct answers Virgin queens (1-2wks) leave the nest, fly
into the air and seek out drone congregation areas.
Pheromones allow drones to be attracted
Why don't virgin queens mate within the colony????
- If they stay in the nest, they are mating with their brothers (GROSS)
- Minimizes inbreeding
Drone
- Endophallus
-- Deposits semen and is stored in the spermatheca
Queen honey bee
- Mates with 17 different drones
- Has a pool of semen with many drones
- When she lays she has a 1/17 chance that the bee has the same father.
- Diverse genetics allows them to confer resistance (Varroa mites)
- Social insect colony that can weather many different storms.
Metamorphosis correct answers Queen returns to the colony
- Emerges from a cell
- Begins laying eggs
- Queen looks into cells
-- CLEAN?
-- VACCANT?
-- MEASURE the size of the cell with her antennae
Small cell?
- Worker
Large cell?
- Unfertilized eggs --> Drone
Backs her abdomen up to the cell and lays an egg
Complete metamorphosis correct answers Honey bees undergo complete
metamorphesis
Egg
Larva - stands up into a pre-pupa
Pupa -
