6.2 mating behaviour

Question 1

When does the queen reach sexual maturation?

Answer 1

22 days after being laid/ 6 days after emergence

Question 2

How many weeks after emergence can the queen mate for?

Answer 2

4 week mating window

Question 3

What behaviour do workers exhibit towards virgin queens in the hive?

Answer 3

They will become aggressive to her and encoruage her to go on mating flights

Question 4

At what age does a queen take orientation flights

Answer 4

6 - 10 days old

Question 5

How long are queen mating flights

Answer 5

15 - 30 minutes

Question 6

What time of day does a queen go on mating flights?

Answer 6

Between 14:30 and 16:00

Question 7

How long does it take drones to reach sexual maturity?

Answer 7

36 days after being laid /12 - 14 days after emergence

Question 8

At what stage of development are the testes and sperm develop in the drone?

Answer 8

Larval stage

Question 9

What age does a drones sperm migrate from testes to seminal vesicles?

Answer 9

3 days after drone emerges

Question 10

What age do dreones take orientation flights?

Answer 10

8 days old (before sexual maturation)

Question 11

What age do drones take their first mating flights?

Answer 11

16 days old

Question 12

How long do drones who fail to mate live for

Answer 12

3- 5 weeks

Question 13

How long are mating flights for drones?

Answer 13

25 - 30 minutes

Question 14

What time do drones go for mating flights

Answer 14

Between 14:00 and 17:00

Question 15

What are some desriable mating conditions?

Answer 15

Temps over 20°C, little cloud cover, and wind speeds less than 28kmph

Question 16

What are some general chractersitics of DCA locations

Answer 16

Areas with significant geographical changes. The Koenigers talk about depeltions of horizon. Vegetation, incoming solar rays, pheremones and vegetation may cause them to occur where they do.

Question 17

What shape are DCAs

Answer 17

They can be between 10-25 metres in the air, and can be as large as 100m across

Question 18

How far will queens fly to DCAs?

Answer 18

2 - 3 km (less distance than drones)

Question 19

Describe the mating flight of the queen?

Answer 19

She flys through DCAs and a comet of drones forms behind.

Question 20

Describe the copualtion between drone and queen?

Answer 20

He grabs her with his legs. Aligns his abdominal tip and she opens up to reiceive his endophalus. Drone contracts abdomen forcing extrusion of endophalus. He becomes paralyzed. Queens abdominal muscle contractions casues full eversion and ejacutlation. Sperm moves into the oviduct and drone falls off and dies

Question 21

How long does copualtion take?

Answer 21

2 seconds on average

Question 22

Queens mate with how many drones?

Answer 22

Average 11 - 17 drones

Question 23

What is the mating sign?

Answer 23

The endophalus bulb

Question 24

How much sperm will the queen have collected and how much is stored in her spermatehca?

Answer 24

Collected = 100 million, stored = 6 million

Question 25

What does the sperm press do?

Answer 25

It contracts which pushes sperm from the oviduct to the spermatheca.

Question 26

What helps the drones become attracted to the queen

Answer 26

9-ODA from mandiular glands attracts from 100m away, tergite gland (renner-baumann) attracts from 30cm. Eyesight also important.