Number of males (drones) that typically fertilize the queen

Range 7 to 20 Drones
Organism Bee Apis mellifera
Reference Tomkins JP et al., New genomic resources for the honey bee(Apis mellifera L.): development of a deep-coverage BAC library and a preliminary STC database. Genet Mol Res. 2002 Dec 31 1(4):306-16. p.307 2nd paragraphPubMed ID14963821
Primary Source Adams J, Rothman ED, Kerr WE, Paulino ZL. Estimation of the number of sex alleles and queen matings from diploid male frequencies in a population of Apis mellifera. Genetics. 1977 Jul86(3):583-96 AND Estoup, A., Solignac, M. and Cornuet, J.M. (1994). Precise assessment of the number of patrilines and genetic relatedness in honey bee colonies. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 258: 1-7 link PubMed ID892423
Comments As a social insect, the honey bee lives in colonies with a single reproductive female, the queen that normally mates with 7-20 males (drones) and stores the sperm in a spermatheca (primary sources). For an average number of 12 drones see Kocher et al., 2010 PMID 20002808 p.153 right column 2nd paragraph
Entered by Uri M
ID 106680