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The laying workers of the Cape honey bee continue to negatively affect the South African beekeeping industry, with more losses suffered in the northern regions of the country. • The reproductive parasites enter susceptible host colonies, activate their ovaries, and lay diploid eggs, leading to colony dwindling and collapse. • Diploidy in eggs produced by unmated laying workers arises from thelytokous parthenogenesis, first discovered in honey bees by a hobbyist beekeeper. • We examine the consequences of thelytokous parthenogenesis and outline what is being done to understand and limit the spread of the laying workers of the Cape honey bee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was achieved in a private apiary located in a banana farm in Sa El Hagar, Basioun, Gharbia, Egypt from August 15, 2019 to May 25, 2020, including the banana (Musa sp., Musaceae) flow season (August and September) and extend to Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L., Fabaceae) flow season (May). The study aimed to evaluate the effect of confining the queen during the banana flow season on the brood rearing, honey yield, and activation of worker's ovaries. Also, we determined the negative impact of caging the queen during the banana flow season on the activity of the colony in brood rearing, storing pollen, and honey yield after releasing the queen on 5 October, extending to the next flow season in May. The obtained results showed that the honeybee colonies with the caged queen produced significantly more honey yield and less brood production than the free queen ones during the banana flow season. Also, the caging of the queen did not affect the colony strength after releasing the queen despite the partial development of the ovaries of some workers, but they did not lay eggs. In addition, releasing the queens suppressed the ovaries of the laying workers. It can be concluded that caging the queen during the banana flow season helps the colonies to produce more honey yield without effect on the colony strength after releasing the queen despite the ovaries development of few workers without egg-laying.

The embryonic development of honey bees has been studied for more than 150 years (Bütschli, 1870) and a lot of data on the embryogenesis of Apis mellifera L. has been accumulated. However, bees are rarely used as a research objects in modern insect embryology. In addition to the importance of bees as pollinators and producers of biologically active substances, the participation of social behavior in controlling the course of individual development of this group of Hymenoptera is of great interest. This review provides information about external factors (biotic and abiotic) that affect the embryogenesis of A. mellifera, including those related to social behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was achieved in a private apiary located in a banana farm in Sa El Hagar, Basioun, Gharbia, Egypt from August 15, 2019 to May 25, 2020, including the banana (Musa sp., Musaceae) flow season (August and September) and extend to Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L., Fabaceae) flow season (May). The study aimed to evaluate the effect of confining the queen during the banana flow season on the brood rearing, honey yield, and activation of worker's ovaries. Also, we determined the negative impact of caging the queen during the banana flow season on the activity of the colony in brood rearing, storing pollen, and honey yield after releasing the queen on 5 October, extending to the next flow season in May. The obtained results showed that the honeybee colonies with the caged queen produced significantly more honey yield and less brood production than the free queen ones during the banana flow season. Also, the caging of the queen did not affect the colony strength after releasing the queen despite the partial development of the ovaries of some workers, but they did not lay eggs. In addition, releasing the queens suppressed the ovaries of the laying workers. It can be concluded that caging the queen during the banana flow season helps the colonies to produce more honey yield without effect on the colony strength after releasing the queen despite the ovaries development of few workers without egg-laying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent study showed that worker larvae fed in a queenless colony develop into another female polyphenic form—rebel workers. The rebel workers are more queen-like than normal workers because they have higher reproductive potential revealed by more ovarioles in their ovaries. However, it was unclear whether eggs laid by rebel workers avoided worker policing. Worker-laid eggs are normally eaten by other workers in a queenright colony. The aim of this study was to compare the survival of three classes of eggs, namely, those laid by normal workers, rebel workers, and the queen. All eggs were tested in queenright colonies. We expected that rebel workers would avoid policing by laying more queen-like eggs. Contrary to our expectations, eggs laid by rebel workers were eaten by other workers, as were eggs laid by normal workers, and only a few worker-laid eggs (both normal and rebel) survived for more than 3 h. Therefore, in a queenright colony, eggs laid by rebel workers do not avoid policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laying workers expressed as Workers with Activate Ovaries (WAO) having ma-ture oocytes had been studied in colonies headed with natural mated carnica queens. The results showed that the WAO were affected by the age of the queen, where it reached 0.8, 1.3 and 2.2 % for colonies headed with queens 10, 20 and 30 month old, respectively. The worker ovaries started to activate when the reached 22. 18 and 12 days from emergence for colonies headed with caged mated queens, caged virgin queens and queenless colonies, respectively. Also, when the worker's age reached 30 days, the percentages of WAO occurrence reached 3.3, 7.3 and 14.7 % for the corre-sponding colonies status, respectively. In preparing swarm boxes, when the bee-keepers failed to introduce the queens into the nuclei until two days, one week and two weeks, the WAO recorded 1.4, 4.8 and 9.2 %, respectively. In case of queen rearing, the presence of WAO was not significant until the fifth day, and then in-creased gradually to reach an average of 4.6% in the tenth day.

This study was conducted to investigate drone rearing activity and semen production of Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis mellifera syriaca. Tendency of worker bees of both subspecies towards egg laying under semiarid conditions were also monitored in the experiments. Differences were not observed in drone brood production between both honeybee subspecies throughout the investigation. Worker bees of both subspecies needed a significantly shorter time to start egg laying during February and March in comparison with the time those workers needed for laying eggs during the remaining months of the study. Syrian bee workers started egg laying earlier than Italian bee workers. Drones from laying workers were much smaller and produced less sperms with more abnormalities than normal drones. Drones produced from queens in May were heavier and produced more sperms with less abnormalities than those produced during the other months. The drone brood rearing of both subspecies tended to follow the same general cycle in 2005 and 2006. The study suggests that virgin queens have a better chance to receive adequate viable sperm amounts from drones in April and May in semiarid Mediterranean conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individually-marked day-old anarchistic (from a line where workers lay eggs at high frequency) and wild-type worker honey bees ( Apis mellifera) were introduced to queenless sections of anarchistic or wildtype host colonies housed in observation hives. After 14 days, some introduced workers had activated ovaries, and we then removed the screens separating the queenless from the queenright sections of the observation hives. We then observed all instances of aggression against marked workers for 3 hours. The colonies were then killed and all marked bees retrieved and scored for ovary activation. About 10–40% of workers had activated ovaries. In 3 of 6 colonies, wild-type workers were attacked more often if they had activated ovaries than workers without activated ovaries. Anarchistic workers were more likely to be attacked if they had activated ovaries in one anarchistic host colony only, but in one wild-type host they were more likely to be attacked if they had inactive ovaries. In all colonies there was no significant difference in attack rates between anarchistic and wild-type workers with activated ovaries. This indicates that, like wild-type workers, anarchistic workers are unable to mask their ovary activation from other workers. This study supports the hypothesis some policing occurs via attacks on individuals with activated ovaries, but that this system is much less accurate and acute than the policing system based on egg eating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workers of the Asian hive bee, Apis cerana, are shown to have relatively high rates of worker ovary activation. In colonies with an active queen and brood nest, 1–5% of workers have eggs in their ovarioles. When A. cerana colonies are dequeened, workers rapidly activate their ovaries. After 4 days 15% have activated ovaries and after 6 days, 40%. A cerana police worker-laid eggs in the same way that A. florea and A. mellifera do, but are perhaps slightly more tolerant of worker-laid eggs than the other species. Nevertheless, no worker's sons were detected in a sample of 652 pupal males sampled from 4 queenright colonies. A cerana continue to police worker-laid eggs, even after worker oviposition has commenced in a queenless colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worker bees eventually begin laying eggs in honey bee colonies that have lost their queen and have failed to rear a replacement. In contrast, workers tend to lack developed ovaries and tend to suppress drone production by worker nestmates in colonies with queens. We measured changes in worker egg-removal behaviour, ovary development, and egg-laying rate in hives following the removal of their queens. We carried out weekly assays of worker removal of experimentally transferred eggs, dissection and inspection of worker bee ovaries, and daily checks of worker oviposition. Following queen removal, the egg-removal rate by workers generally first increased, then decreased or levelled off over the four-week time course of the experiment; this behaviour was closely synchronized with the increase in worker ovary development and egg-laying. We discuss our results in the context of theoretically predicted worker-worker conflict over the onset of reproduction in queenless honey bee societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In anarchistic honey-bee colonies, many workers’ sons are reared despite the presence of the queen. Worker-laid eggs are normally eaten by other workers in queenright colonies. Workers are thought to discriminate between queen-laid and worker-laid eggs by the presence or absence of a queen-produced egg-marking pheromone. This study compared the survival of three classes of eggs (worker-laid eggs from anarchistic colonies, worker-laid eggs from non-anarchistic queenless colonies, and queen-laid eggs) in both queenright normal colonies and queenright anarchistic colonies, in order to test the hypothesis that anarchistic workers evade policing by laying more acceptable eggs. As expected, few worker-laid eggs from non-anarchistic colonies survived more than 2 h. In contrast, worker-laid eggs from anarchistic colonies had much greater acceptability, which in some trials equalled the acceptability of queen-laid eggs. Anarchistic colonies were generally less discriminatory than normal queenright colonies towards worker-laid eggs, whether these originated from anarchistic colonies or normal queenless colonies. This indicates that the egg-removal aspect of the anarchistic syndrome involves both worker laying of eggs with greater acceptability and reduced discriminatory behaviour of policing workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dequeened honeybee colonies ovarian activation occurs in some workers, and the pheromonal bouquets of these laying workers become more queen-like. In the Asiatic honeybee, Apis cerana, we compared the amount of 9-keto-2( E)-decenoic acid (9-ODA), a mandibular gland pheromone component, between non-laying workers from queenright colonies and laying workers from queenless colonies, and further, applied synthetic 9-ODA to workers to determine whether they discriminate workers with activated ovaries based on the level of this compound. Levels of 9-ODA were higher in laying workers from dequeened colonies than in non-laying workers from queenright colonies. In both queenright and queenless colonies, workers attacked more workers treated with 9-ODA than control-treated workers. These results suggest that detection of pseudoqueens in A. cerana is mediated by changes in 9-ODA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male production was studied in four queenright M. favosa colonies by permanent and long duration observation of egg-laying and subsequent bee emergence. Workers produced males in all colonies; they produced 94.5% of all males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normally, worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) only lay eggs when their colony is queenless. When a queen is present, worker egg-laying is controlled by mutual "policing" behavior in which any rare worker-laid eggs are eaten by other workers. However, an extremely rare behavioral phenotype arises in which workers develop functional ovaries and lay large numbers of eggs despite the presence of the queen. In this study, microsatellite analysis was used to determine the maternity of drones produced in such a colony under various conditions. One subfamily was found to account for about 90% of drone progeny, with the remainder being laid by other subfamilies or the queen. No evidence of queen policing was found. After a one-month period of extreme worker oviposition in spring, the colony studied reverted to normal behavior and showed no signs of worker oviposition. However, upon removal of the queen, workers commenced oviposition very quickly. Significantly, the subfamily that laid eggs when the queen was present did not contribute to the drone production when the colony was queenless. However, another subfamily contributed a disproportionately large number of drones. The frequency of worker oviposition appears to be determined by opposing selective forces. Individual bees benefit from personal reproduction, whereas other bees and the colony are disadvantaged by it. Thus a behavioral polymorphism can be maintained in the population in which some workers can escape worker policing, with balancing selection at the colony level to detect and eliminate these mutations., (© 1998 The Society for the Study of Evolution.)