Mysteries in the Blue SkyAbridged by Peter West

摘要

Dr Pflugfelder started with the above pictures of sealed brood laid by well-mated and in-bred queens. The research he described shows how honeybee mating has evolved to ensure that virgin queens do not mate with their brothers.Honeybee queens mate in Drone Congregation Areas (DCAs). DCAs have been researched in the same steep-sided, flat bottomed Swiss valley for 40 years. The DCAs are mapped by students who are equally spaced across the valley floor, each having a helium balloon scented with queen substance ((E)-9-Oxodec-2-enoic acid (mandibular gland)) on a long string. As they progress in a line along the valley floor, they shout out when the drones start hitting their balloon, and again when the drones stop. The drones do not follow the queens or scented balloons out of the DCAs.