Drone competition at drone congregation areas in four Apis species

Abstract

-In Apis mellifera the estimated average number of drones visiting a drone congregation area (DCA) was 11 750 + 2 145. Drones of the species Apis cerana, A. koschevnikovi, A. dorsata and A. mellifera, which pursued a queen dummy moving in circular course, flew in a comet shaped formation. Median numbers of drones in a comet ranged from 9 drones (A. koschevnikovi) to 31 drones (A. mellifera).In none of the species we observed aggression between drones. Drone density behind the queen and distance to the queen seemed to be adjusted to avoid collisions between drones. The median flight speed ranged from 2.6 m/s (A. koschevnikovi) to 4.1 m/s (A. dorsata). The median duration of a drone's presence in the mating comet did not exceed 2 seconds. Drones of all species had the ability of high acceleration (10 to 20 m/s 2 ). Either by overtaking or leaving/entering the comet drones seem to compete for more promising positions. Only drones flying in a limited space of not more than 2000 cm 3 behind the queen were successful in grasping the dummy.Apis reproduction / mating behavior / drone congregation area / drone competition / drone numbers

Deformed wing virus and drone mating flights in the honey bee (Apis mellifera): implications for sexual transmission of a major honey bee virus

“…Furthermore, such virulence estimates may well depend on which host fitness parameters are investigated and which tissues are studied. It has been shown that drones are under strong selection for flight performance and wing symmetry during mating flights (Koeniger et al 2005b;Jaffé and Moritz 2010). However, the endophallus has no direct influence on flight ability.…”

“…There is strong selection for drone flight performance to DCAs (Koeniger et al 2005b;Jaffé and Moritz 2010), as well as for general health and vitality during the 10-day in-hive drone maturation period prior to mating flights. Indeed, most drones infested by mites during the pupal stage are expelled from the colony before reaching sexual maturity ).…”

Male mating behaviour and mating systems of bees: an overview

“…Honey bees (Apis spp.) are highly polyandrous (Koeniger et al, 2005), though stingless bees are generally monandrous (Paxton et al, 1999b;Peters et al, 1999). Arguments for and against polyandry in eusocial Hymenoptera have been discussed at length elsewhere (Palmer and Oldroyd, 2000;Crozier and Fjerdingstad, 2001;Strassmann, 2001;Brown and Schmid-Hempel, 2003).…”

“…Mating in the honey bee A. mellifera never occurs within the colony but at flyways or 'drone congregation areas' (Koeniger, 1991;Koeniger et al, 2005), a pattern of mating that has probably evolved as a means to reduce inbreeding (Page, 1980). The deleterious effects of consanguineous mating are profound for haplodiploid species like A. mellifera with complementary sex determination (CSD, Beye et al, 2003) because inbreeding leads to the production of diploid males that are usually considered sterile.…”

“…Yet despite this mechanistic understanding of how males and females meet, there is poor knowledge of bee mating systems, namely, whether males or females are polygamous, and the extent of inbreeding, other than for a few wellcharacterised eusocial species (e.g. Boomsma et al, 2005;Koeniger et al, 2005).…”