A Closer Look - QUEEN POST-MATING CHANGES: Mating Is A Lengthy And Complex Process

摘要

Mating in honey bee queens is a lengthy and complex process. A queen bee reaches sexual maturity when she is five to 10 days old, at which point she initiates mating flights. She will take one to three mating flights on subsequent days, and mate withnumerous drones throughout the course of these flights. The majority of the semen collected by the queen is excreted within 24 hours after insemination, and a proportion of each male's sperm is stored in her spermatheca. A fully inseminated queen retains approximately five to seven million sperm. Once the queen completes the mating process, she will initiate egg-laying behavior within a few days, and then will never mate again during her lifespan (Kocher et al. 2008).