Comparison of eggs produced by queens, halfqueens and worker bees and weight of emerging workers in Apis mellifera lamarckii

Abstract

This work aimed to compare the measurements, developmental length, and weight of eggs laid by colony queens naturally mated halfqueens and laying workers of the Egyptian honey bee Apis mellifera lamarckii. The dry weight of workers emerged from the queen and halfqueen eggs were also compared. The eggs of laying workers were significantly shorter, slimmer, and lighter than the eggs of the other two female castes. Egg length and egg width fluctuated significantly in the three female castes throughout the experimental period with different patterns of change. The developmental time of laying worker eggs was significantly shorter than that of queen and halfqueen. Eggs from all three castes change their sizes during the whole incubation period. No significant difference was found between the mean weight of newly emerged workers from the queen and halfqueen eggs. Three well-separated clusters, representing the eggs of the three castes, were obtained by using discriminant analysis. The results revealed that queens and halfqueens are closely related to each other.

Keywords:

• Egyptian honey bee
• halfqueen
• development
• honey bee castes

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express his appreciation to Prof. B. Schricker, the head of the Bee Research Group of the Institute for Zoology, Free University, Berlin, Germany, for his invitation and his support and help during this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.