Reproductive isolation among species of the genus <i>Apis</i>

Kœniger, N.; Koeniger, Gudrun

doi:10.1051/apido:2000125

Cited by 124 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Thus sperm concentration (viscosity) seems to be an important factor for the ratio of spermatozoa reaching the spermatheca. After natural mating only about 3% of spermatozoa are found in the spermatheca (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000;Palmer and Oldroyd, 2000) though the concentration in ejaculate is about 7 × 10 6 per 1 µL (Woyke, 1960). Even after mating with 1 or 2 drones it is less than after instrumental insemination (Koeniger and Koeniger, 1991;Schluens et al, unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Previously, the combination of these 3 techniques and subsequent instrumental insemination was used successfully for A. koschevnikovi spermatozoa inseminated into A. cerana queens. Those queens produced fertilized eggs from which adult gynandromorph hybrids emerged (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is in accordance with earlier experiments. A. mellifera spermatozoa entered the spermatheca of A. florea queens (Woyke, 1993) and those of A. koschevnikovi and A. cerana spermatozoa entered the spermatheca of A. koschevnikovi and vice versa (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000). Further A. dorsata spermatozoa were supposed to enter those of A. mellifera (Woyke et al, 2001), a low percentage (about 3.5%) of the inseminated spermatozoa entered the spermatheca of A. koschevnikovi (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To overcome the problem that the number of spermatozoa of drones differ between 0.4 × 10 6 and 8 to 10 × 10 6 (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000) the number of spermatozoa for each insemination was adjusted to one drone of A. mellifera (to about 8 million). Further we combined the technique of collecting spermatozoa from the vesiculae seminales (Mackensen and Ruttner, 1976) and sperm collection in buffer solution (Kaftanoglu and Peng, 1980), which both proved to be successful.…”

Section: Semen Collection From Vesiculae Seminalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drones were collected during the mating flight times of each species (Koeniger and Koeniger, 2000) narcotized with CO 2 to prevent semen ejaculation. For collection of spermatozoa the last tergite and sternite of the abdomen was cut off under a stereomicroscope, the endophallus was grasped with the forceps and the reproductive tract was pulled out with the attached mucus glands and vesiculae seminales.…”

Section: Semen Collection From Vesiculae Seminalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Instrumental insemination of Apis mellifera queens with hetero- and conspecific spermatozoa results in different sperm survival

et al. 2004

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-Sixty three queens of Apis mellifera were inseminated each with about 8 million spermatozoa from either 1 A. mellifera drone, 8 A. cerana, 5 A. dorsata or 20 A. florea drones. Spermatozoa were collected from vesiculae seminales, diluted in buffer and re-concentrated at 1,000 g for 10 minutes. Between 1.4% and 2.8% of the spermatozoa reached the spermatheca. Motility of spermatozoa of A. mellifera and A. cerana did not change within 4 weeks, it was nearly 100%. The motility of A. florea spermatozoa decreased to 83.4% after 3 days and to 33.9% after 4 weeks and motility of A. dorsata spermatozoa decreased to 61.2% after 3 days and to 26% after 4 weeks. Fertilization of A. mellifera eggs was 57% by A. mellifera spermatozoa. Calculation based on non-hatching eggs showed that about 40% were fertilized by A. cerana and A. florea and less than 20% by A. dorsata spermatozoa. The composition of spermathecal fluid seems to be different within the species and its significance for long term sperm storage is discussed. sperm survival / spermathecal fluid / hetero specific insemination / Apis mellifera queens / Apis species

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Semen Collection From Vesiculae Seminalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Semen Collection From Vesiculae Seminalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Instrumental insemination of Apis mellifera queens with hetero- and conspecific spermatozoa results in different sperm survival

et al. 2004

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Marked interspecific differences in the neuroanatomy of the male olfactory system of honey bees (genus Apis)

Bastin

Couto

Larcher

et al. 2018

J of Comparative Neurology

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All honey bee species (genus Apis) display a striking mating behavior with the formation of male (drone) congregations, in which virgin queens mate with many drones. Bees' mating behavior relies on olfactory communication involving queen-but also drone pheromones. To explore the evolution of olfactory communication in Apis, we analyzed the neuroanatomical organization of the antennal lobe (primary olfactory center) in the drones of five species from the three main lineages (open-air nesting species: dwarf honey bees Apis florea and giant honey bees Apis dorsata; cavity-nesting species: Apis mellifera, Apis kochevnikovi, and Apis cerana) and from three populations of A. cerana (Borneo, Thailand, and Japan). In addition to differences in the overall number of morphological units, the glomeruli, our data reveal marked differences in the number and position of macroglomeruli, enlarged units putatively dedicated to sex pheromone processing.

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Sperm use economy of honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens

Baer

Collins

Maalaps

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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The queens of eusocial ants, bees, and wasps only mate during a very brief period early in life to acquire and store a lifetime supply of sperm. As sperm cannot be replenished, queens have to be highly economic when using stored sperm to fertilize eggs, especially in species with large and long‐lived colonies. However, queen fertility has not been studied in detail, so that we have little understanding of how economic sperm use is in different species, and whether queens are able to influence their sperm use. This is surprising given that sperm use is a key factor of eusocial life, as it determines the fecundity and longevity of queens and therefore colony fitness. We quantified the number of sperm that honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens use to fertilize eggs. We examined sperm use in naturally mated queens of different ages and in queens artificially inseminated with different volumes of semen. We found that queens are remarkably efficient and only use a median of 2 sperm per egg fertilization, with decreasing sperm use in older queens. The number of sperm in storage was always a significant predictor for the number of sperm used per fertilization, indicating that queens use a constant ratio of spermathecal fluid relative to total spermathecal volume of 2.364 × 10−6 to fertilize eggs. This allowed us to calculate a lifetime fecundity for honeybee queens of around 1,500,000 fertilized eggs. Our data provide the first empirical evidence that honeybee queens do not manipulate sperm use, and fertilization failures in worker‐destined eggs are therefore honest signals that workers can use to time queen replacement, which is crucial for colony performance and fitness.

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Reproductive isolation among species of the genus Apis

Cited by 124 publications

References 75 publications

Instrumental insemination of Apis mellifera queens with hetero- and conspecific spermatozoa results in different sperm survival

Instrumental insemination of Apis mellifera queens with hetero- and conspecific spermatozoa results in different sperm survival

Marked interspecific differences in the neuroanatomy of the male olfactory system of honey bees (genus Apis)

Sperm use economy of honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens

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