Do Honeybees Eat Diploid Drone Larvae Because they are in Worker Cells?

Abstract

A total of 457 diploid larvae from eggs laid in worker cells by inbred queens were hatched in an incubator. They were then transferred into drone cells and put into queenless colonies, with a control group of 75 haploid drone larvae. Half the diploid larvae were eaten during the first few hours after transference, leaving 48% surviving until the next day, compared with 92% haploids. The bees sealed 65% of the cells containing haploids and 19% with diploids, of which 2·8% were drones. After emergence one drone was found to be diploid. Since diploid drone larvae are eaten whether they are in drone or worker cells, the controlling factor is not that they are in the ‘wrong’ type of cell for their sex.