Worker Reproduction in Cape Honey Bee Queenright Colonies

A quantitative study of worker reproduction in queenright colonies of the Cape honey bee Apis mellifera capensis, conducted by Madeleine Beekman. Microsatellite analyses of pre-emergent brood show that workers produced 10.2% of new workers and 0.48% of drones. The data was published in 2020.

Use Cases

• Analyze the proportion of worker-produced offspring (10.2% of workers, 0.48% of drones) to study inclusive fitness in Apis mellifera capensis.
• Investigate the correlation between worker reproduction and reproductive swarming events using brood data.
• Compare thelytokous parthenogenesis rates in Cape honey bees to arrhenotokous subspecies using microsatellite analysis results.

Strengths

• Quantifies specific reproductive contributions: workers produced 10.2% of workers and 0.48% of drones.
• Uses microsatellite analysis for genetic parentage assignment, a standard molecular method.
• Focuses on the unique thelytokous parthenogenesis of Apis mellifera capensis workers.

Limitations

• Sample size and number of colonies studied are not specified.
• Data is from a single study, limiting generalizability across different environments or seasons.
• Raw data columns and file formats are unknown, complicating direct re-analysis.

Provenance

Source

Madeleine Beekman via Dryad.

Collection Method

Microsatellite analyses of pre-emergent brood from queenright colonies.

Freshness

2020-06-24

Geography

Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis) colonies.