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A worker bee is any female bee that lacks the reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee and carries out the majority of tasks needed for the functioning of the hive. While worker bees are present in all eusocial bee species, the term is rarely used (outside of scientific literature) for bees other than honey bees , particularly the ...
The queen bee is able to control the sex of the eggs she lays. The queen lays a fertilized (female) or unfertilized (male) egg according to the width of the cell. Drones are raised in cells that are significantly larger than the cells used for workers.
The production of female offspring by parthenogenesis is referred to as thelytoky (e.g., aphids) while the production of males by parthenogenesis is referred to as arrhenotoky (e.g., bees). When unfertilized eggs develop into both males and females, the phenomenon is called deuterotoky. [22]
Egg position in the cell is a good indicator of a laying worker. A queen bee's abdomen is noticeably longer than a worker, allowing a queen to lay an egg at the bottom of the cell. A queen bee will usually lay an egg centered in the cell. Workers cannot reach the bottom of normal depth cells, and will lay eggs on the sides of the cell or off ...
The mated female controls the release of stored sperm from within the organ: If she releases sperm as an egg passes down her oviduct, the egg is fertilized. [7] Social bees, wasps, and ants can modify sex ratios within colonies which maximizes relatedness among members and generates a workforce appropriate to surrounding conditions. [ 8 ]
Apart from the queen bee, the remaining female bees are known as the worker bees, as these individuals perform all the tasks necessarily to maintain the hive including tending to the eggs, larvae, and pupae, foraging for food and water, cleaning the beehive and producing honey. These tasks are divided among the female worker bees by a factor of ...
Female bees have two sets of chromosomes —one set from the queen and another from one of the male bees or drones. Drones have only one set of chromosomes ( haploid ), and are the result of unfertilized eggs, though inbreeding can result in diploid drones.
After mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilised eggs producing female offspring and unfertilised eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no diapause stage.