Environmental Factors and Size Variations in Honeybee Appendages*

Abstract

The Italian honeybee workers had shorter tongues and slightly longer wings than workers of the Caucasian strain used. Eggs from the Caucasian queen that were nurtured in the Italian hive produced workers with tongues and wings similar in length to sister workers that developed in the parent hive. Workers from the Italian queen eggs nurtured in the Caucasian hive also had wings and tongues similar in length to sister workers that developed in the parent hive. Nurse bees did not alter the inherited tongue and wing length characteristic of the bees they reared. Honey-flow did not alter size of these appendages. Minor variations that occurred simultaneously in the 2 groups studied indicated that some unknown environmental factor did influence them.