LOWER PERFORMANCE IN HONEYBEE COLONIES OF UNIFORM PATERNITY

During mating flights honeybee queens copulate with about 10-20 drones . A possible explanation why polyandry has evolved in honey bees is th at colonies from single-mated queens are inferior to those from polyan drous queens. It was investigated whether the performance of full and small test colonies would be lower if workers were from queens artific ially inseminated with semen from one drone opposed to equal amounts o f mixed semen from several drones. Six colonies with queens inseminate d with 1 mul semen of a single drone, each of a different father colon y, were compared with six colonies where queens had been inseminated w ith mixed semen of six drones from the same colonies. Colonies with si ngle paternity showed at times lower drone brood production, lower pol len and honey storage, and fewer queen cells, while deviations in the opposite direction were small and not significant. Bee numbers and amo unt of sealed worker brood were not affected. Three short-time tests w ere performed involving a total of 75 small bee colonies kept in Kirch hainer mating boxes. Comb building, storage of honey and pollen, and b rood rearing were lower in the colonies containing workers of only one patriline. The results support that a group advantage exists in perfo rmance of honeybee workers with mixed paternity, which might have prom oted the evolution of polyandry in honeybee queens.