Sperm numbers in drone honeybees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) depend on body size

Schlüns, Helge; Schlüns, Ellen A.; Praagh, Job van; Moritz, Robin F. A.

doi:10.1051/apido:2003051

Cited by 103 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Thus, the impact on the drone body mass could only be observed in the laboratory experiment that included the possibility to perform foraging behaviour. For many insects body mass or size of males may interfere with the mating dynamics, sexual selection, reproductive potential and/or progeny production) [45][46][47] . Therefore, measures on body mass or size in the male progeny of bumblebees become an important sublethal effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lethal and sublethal effects of azadirachtin on the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

et al. 2014

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Background: Lethal and sublethal effects of azadirachtin were studied on Bombus terrestris via oral exposure in the laboratory to bring out the potential risks of the compound to this important pollinator.Results: Microcolonies chronically exposed to azadirachtin via treated sugar water during 11 weeks in the laboratory exhibited a high mortality ranging from 32 to 100 % with a range of concentrations between 3.2 and 320 mg litre , azadirachtin significantly inhibited the egg laying and, consequently, the production of drones during 6 weeks. When azadirachtin was tested under an experimental setup in the laboratory where bumblebees need to forage for food, the sublethal effects were stronger as the numbers of drones were reduced already with a concentration of 0.64 mg litre -1 . Besides, a negative correlation was found between the body mass of male offspring and azadirachtin concentration.Conclusion: Azadirachtin can affect B. terrestris with a range of sublethal effects. This study confirms the need to test compounds on their safety, especially when they have to perform complex tasks such as foraging.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lethal and sublethal effects of azadirachtin on the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

et al. 2014

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“…Whether diploid males always produce diploid spermatozoa, or not, remains unclear; FCM could greatly help in this respect. More generally, flow cytometry should allow testing various hypotheses on the evolution of mating systems in social insects, including possible variations in male sperm production or in strategies of sperm utilization by females (e.g., Wiernasz et al, 2001;Schlüns et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid determination of sperm number in ant queens by flow cytometry

Cournault

Aron

2008

Insect. Soc.

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Abstract. In social Hymenoptera, queens receive a given amount of sperm during a single or multiple inseminations once and for all. The amount of sperm stored at mating determines the maximum number of fertilized eggs queens can produce for the rest of their reproductive life. We propose flow cytometry (FCM) as a method to estimate the concentration of sperm cells, as well as their ploidy level, in queens spermathecae. Our data, obtained from 5 ant species, show that FCM is precise, repeatable, easy to conduct and rapid. Estimates of variation of spermathecal content always remain below 10 %, and samples can be analysed in less than 5 minutes. Flow cytometry appears as an excellent method for comparative analyses of sperm number within and between ant species.

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“…In all cited cases spermatozoa of vesiculae seminales of drones aged 11 or 12 day were counted. Schlüns et al (2003) counted 11.9 × 10 6 ± 1.0 × 10 6 spermatozoa in drones reared in drone cells. Drones reared in worker cells had an average of 7.5 × 10 6 ± 0.5 × 10 6 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This variance in possibly fathering drones still is sufficient to contribute to differences in patriline proportions within colonies. Schlüns et al (2003) demonstrated that the size of A. mellifera drones has an influence on its sperm number. In this study spermatozoa numbers range from about one million up to 30 million spermatozoa among drones (aged 12 days) of 10 sister queens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%