• Sex determination in bees is dependent on the number of chromosomes they receive. A male bee is called a drone which has a haploid set of chromosomes (16) and the mother bee is called a queen bee which has a diploid set of chromosomes (32).
• When sperm from a male and egg from a female fuse together, they form a female diploid offspring. However, when an unfertilised female egg undergoes parthenocarpy, it produces a haploid male bee or drones.
• This kind of sex determination is referred to as a haplodiploid system of sex determination or arrhenotoky.
• The queen bee gives birth to three types of offspring – worker bees, drones and a new queen bee.

Note: The female worker bees are sterile.

Features of a Haploid Male Honey Bee

• It has only one set of chromosomes.
• It is very short lived.
• It divides by mitosis to produce sperm cells.
• The genetic makeup of a male bee is wholly derived from the mother.
• When mating, the genetic material of a queen bee is recombined for inheritance but the daughter offspring receives the drone’s chromosomes, as it is.
• A drone does not have a father and cannot have sons but it has a grandfather and grandsons.
• An advantage of such males is that lethal mutations are wiped out early, because such males do not survive and therefore cannot pass the mutation.

Explore BYJU’S Biology to learn more.

Also see:

• How Do Living Things Sexually Reproduce?
• Sex Hormones – Role In Reproductive Functions
• Genetics