Question

Explain the process of sex determination in honey bees.

Answer 1

In honey bees, the male is haploid while the female is diploid. Haplodiploidy occurs in some insects like bees, ants and wasps. Male insects are haploid because they develop partheno-genetically from unfertilized eggs. The phenomenon is called arehenotoky. Meiosis does not occur during the formation of sperms. Females grow from fertilized eggs and are hence diploid. Queen bee picks up all the sperms from the drone during nuptial flight and stores the same in her seminal vesicle. Formation of worker bees(diploid females) and drones(haploid males) depends upon the brood cells visited by the queen. While visiting the smaller brood cells, the queen emits sperms from its seminal receptacle after laying the eggs. Males are normally fertile haploids due to development from unfertilized eggs. Occasionally diploid infertile males are also produced from heterozygous females through fertilization.