Effects of age, season and genetics on semen and sperm production in Apis mellifera drones

Rhodes, John W.; Harden, S.; Spooner-Hart, Robert; Anderson, Denis L.; Wheen, Gretchen

doi:10.1051/apido/2010026

Cited by 53 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The queen bee retains about 4.5 to 5.7 million sperm in the spermatheca (4,5). This quantity is sufficient to fertilize egg cells for her entire life, as sperm can be stored in the spermatheca for several years (6,7). In the 1930s, the first successful artificial insemination of queen bees was carried out in the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in drone sperm morphometry and activity at the beginning and end of the season

Gontarz¹,

Banaszewska²,

Gryzińska³

et al. 2016

Turk J Vet Anim Sci

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in drone sperm morphometry and activity at the beginning and end of the season

Gontarz¹,

Banaszewska²,

Gryzińska³

et al. 2016

Turk J Vet Anim Sci

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“…The drones reared under optimum thermal and feeding conditions have greater chance of mating (Jaycox, 1961;Rueppell et al, 2006;Czekońska et al, 2013). Drones reared in colonies of different quality, differ in the age when they reach the ability to copulate with the queen (Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015). Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drones reared in colonies of different quality, differ in the age when they reach the ability to copulate with the queen (Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015). Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011). This is confirmed by the differences in the number of drones needed to collect one dose of semen for the artificial insemination of the queen, as indicated by many authors (Chuda-Mickiewicz and Prabucki, 1993;Woyke, 2008;Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015 It is recommended that the queens should be artificially inseminated with semen from drones which are 10 -28 days old (Woyke and Jasiński, 1978;Harbo, 1986;Cobey et al, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011). This is confirmed by the differences in the number of drones needed to collect one dose of semen for the artificial insemination of the queen, as indicated by many authors (Chuda-Mickiewicz and Prabucki, 1993;Woyke, 2008;Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015 It is recommended that the queens should be artificially inseminated with semen from drones which are 10 -28 days old (Woyke and Jasiński, 1978;Harbo, 1986;Cobey et al, 2013). Using various methods, the drones in this age range can be provoked to evert the endophallus and release semen (Witherell, 1965;Laidlaw, 1977).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The eversion and ejaculation success of drones depends largely on the skill and experience of the operator. The difficulty in the eversion of the endophallus and ejaculation of semen are usually explained by the drones being too immature to copulate (Mindt, 1962;Tozetto, 1997;Rhodes et al, 2011). The problems with ejaculating semen may also be caused by anatomical abnormalities or physiological disorders, which often stem from poor rearing conditions or from the existence of diseases, including the presence of Varroa destructor (De Jong, 1997;Duay et al, 2002;Retschnig et al, 2014), and viral diseases (Fievet et al, 2006;Cruz-Landim et al, 2012).…”

mentioning

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The Ability of Honey Bee Drones to Ejaculate

Czekońska

Chuda-Mickiewicz

2015

Journal of Apicultural Science

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A b s t r a c t The effectiveness of two methods of collecting semen from honeybee Apis mellifera drones was compared, and the reasons for problems with ejaculating semen were analysed. Among 275 drones, 100 were stimulated to release semen using a manual method, 100 with the use of chloroform, and from 75 drones the reproductive organs were dissected for analysis and evaluation. It was found that the principal causes of problems that drones had with ejaculating their semen were anatomical changes or a delay in the development of the mucus glands. It was also found that the method employing chloroform was less efficient in the first phase of eversion of the endophallus, compared with the manual method. The method with the use of chloroform allows the determination of the proportion of drones, which do not evert the endophallus because of poor or delayed development of mucus glands, as well as the proportion of drones which evert the organ, but do not ejaculate semen because of the absence of semen in the seminal vesicles.Keywords: Apis mellifera, drone, eversion, reproductive organ. INTRODUCTIONIn a honeybee colony drones are responsible for producing semen and transmitting it to the queen during copulation. In drones, the spermatozoa are produced in the pre-imago stage of development. In the first days of a drone's life the spermatozoa are moved from the testes to the seminal vesicles, where they are stored until mating. Immediately after emerging from the cells, drones are not able to copulate. They reach the ability to mate in 9 -12 days after emergence (Bishop, 1920;Ruttner and Tryasko, 1976). Drones mate with the queen at the age of 15 -23 days, the average being 21 days (Couvillon et al., 2010). Because of the limited number of young queens, only a few drones have the chance to pass on their semen during copulation. The majority of drones die because of age, diseases, or predators (Free and Williams, 1975;Fukuda and Ohtani, 1977;Rueppell et al., 2005;Boes, 2010). A drone does not survive copulation (Witherell, 1965). On average, the drones that do not have the chance to copulate with a queen live 30 days (Rueppell et al., 2005). Colonies differ in terms of the number of drones reared and their reproductive activity (Kraus et al., 2003;Boes, 2010). The reproductive success of drones depends much on the size of the colony and the conditions prevailing during rearing and maturing (Jaycox, 1961;Boes, 2010;Bieńkowska et al., 2011;Mazeed, 2011;Abdelkader et al.;. The drones reared in larger colonies achieve greater reproductive success; more often copulate with the queen, and also have a larger share in the number of offspring (Kraus et al., 2003). The drones reared under optimum thermal and feeding conditions have greater chance of mating (Jaycox, 1961;Rueppell et al., 2006;Czekońska et al., 2013). Drones reared in colonies of different quality, differ in the age when they reach the ability to copulate with the queen (Rhodes et al., 2011;Czekońska et al., 2015). Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not...

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Imidacloprid Induces Histopathological Damage in the Midgut, Ovary, and Spermathecal Stored Spermatozoa of Queens After Chronic Colony Exposure

Moreira

Souza

Galhardo

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Bee colony health is declining as a result of several factors, including exposure to pesticides. The development and strength of honey bee colonies depend on the reproductive success of queen bees. Because flowers are sources of food for bees, foragers can accidentally collect and carry contaminated pollen and nectar to their hives; and this may compromise the longevity and the life span of individuals. Thus, the present study aimed to observe the action of imidacloprid in the midgut and ovaries of Apis mellifera queens, as well as the effects on sperm stored in their spermatheca. To this end, the apiary was divided into three experimental groups: control, commercial imidacloprid, and active ingredient imidacloprid. For toxicity assays, a sucrose solution containing 1 µg/L of imidacloprid was offered to the colonies for 42 days. A control group received only food in the same period. In both treatments with imidacloprid, the midgut of queens showed modifications in the external musculature and cellular alterations. Such changes could lead to the nonrecovery of the epithelium and subsequently malabsorption of nutrients. Moreover, the digestive cells of queen bees exposed to the commercial imidacloprid presented pyknotic nuclei, suggesting a cell death process. The main alterations observed in the ovaries of these reproductive bees treated with commercial imidacloprid were degeneration and resorption of the ovariole content, which probably affected their fertilization and colony development. There were no significant changes in the spermatozoa morphology for both treatments with imidacloprid, but this insecticide may interfere with the development and reproductive success of A. mellifera colonies because it affects the morphology and function of essential organs for the survival of queens. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1637–1648. SETAC

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Effects of age, season and genetics on semen and sperm production in Apis mellifera drones

Cited by 53 publications

References 14 publications

Differences in drone sperm morphometry and activity at the beginning and end of the season

Differences in drone sperm morphometry and activity at the beginning and end of the season

The Ability of Honey Bee Drones to Ejaculate

Imidacloprid Induces Histopathological Damage in the Midgut, Ovary, and Spermathecal Stored Spermatozoa of Queens After Chronic Colony Exposure

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