INSIDE/OUT THE QUEEN: All The Parts and Pieces

摘要

The honey bee queen is the most critical component of the colony. She is everyone's mother, and the source of pheromones that help maintain a stable colony. If she is not functioning well, of poor quality or diseased, the colony will suffer and may die. A good beekeeper will keep an eye on the queen and her condition, even if it is just a thorough inspection of the brood pattern, looking for the presence of eggs. I expect that very few of you have ever looked at her insides. As part of our continuingresearch on the preservation of honey bee germplasm, that is, semen and eggs, we have occasion to dissect queens to determine the amount of semen in the spermatheca, her sperm storage organ. As a reference for this work, my technician Virginia P. Williams took a series of photographs of a dissection of the reproductive tract. We both felt that these photos would be of interest to all of you who don't want to chop up your good laying queens.