6.2 mating behaviour Flashcards
When does the queen reach sexual maturation?
22 days after being laid/ 6 days after emergence
How many weeks after emergence can the queen mate for?
4 week mating window
What behaviour do workers exhibit towards virgin queens in the hive?
They will become aggressive to her and encoruage her to go on mating flights
At what age does a queen take orientation flights
6 - 10 days old
How long are queen mating flights
15 - 30 minutes
What time of day does a queen go on mating flights?
Between 14:30 and 16:00
How long does it take drones to reach sexual maturity?
36 days after being laid /12 - 14 days after emergence
At what stage of development are the testes and sperm develop in the drone?
Larval stage
What age does a drones sperm migrate from testes to seminal vesicles?
3 days after drone emerges
What age do drones take orientation flights?
8 days old (before sexual maturation)
What age do drones take their first mating flights?
16 days old
How long do drones who fail to mate live for
3- 5 weeks
How long are mating flights for drones?
25 - 30 minutes
What time do drones go for mating flights
Between 14:00 and 17:00
What are some desriable mating conditions?
Temps over 20°C, little cloud cover, and wind speeds less than 28kmph
What are some general chractersitics of DCA locations
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.
What shape are DCAs
They can be between 10-25 metres in the air, and can be as large as 100m across
How far will queens fly to DCAs?
2 - 3 km (greater distance than drones)
Describe the mating flight of the queen?
She flys through DCAs and a comet of drones forms behind.
Describe the copualtion between drone and queen?
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
How long does copualtion take?
2 seconds on average
Queens mate with how many drones?
Average 11 - 17 drones
What is the mating sign?
The endophalus bulb
How much sperm will the queen have collected and how much is stored in her spermatehca?
Collected = 100 million, stored = 6 million
What does the sperm press do?
It contracts which pushes sperm from the oviduct to the spermatheca.
What helps the drones become attracted to the queen
9-ODA from mandiular glands attracts from 100m away, tergite gland (renner-baumann) attracts from 30cm. Eyesight also important.
