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Genotypical Variability for the Tasks of Water Collecting and Scenting in a Honey Bee Colony
Author(s) -
Kryger Per,
Kryger Ute,
Moritz Robin F. A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0310.2000.00571.x
Subject(s) - biology , honey bees , honey bee , mating , zoology , worker bee , hymenoptera , ecology , queen (butterfly)
The polyandrous mating behaviour of the honey bee queen increases the genotypical variability amongst her worker offspring. Microsatellite DNA analyses revealed a total of 16 subfamilies in one colony of honey bees. The subfamilies were represented in significantly different proportions in two subgroups of bees, water collecting bees and scenting bees, indicating a genetic component in task choice.