Question

In a colony of honey bee, male drones are originated by
A. Diploid Parthenogenesis
B. Cyclic parthenogenesis
C. Arrhenotoky
D. Thelytoky

Answer 1

Hint: Honey bees are the largest populated colonies, we can say that honey bees are social insects.
There are 3- types of honey bees:
A. Queen
B. Drones or male bees
C. Workers bees

Complete answer:
In a honey bee colony, it consists of: -
a. Single Queen
b. Hundreds of Male honey bees
c. 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees.

A colony could increase up to 80, 000 individuals during seasons. Workers gather food, Store honey for the winter season and build combs. But the honey bee population will decrease during cold seasons.
- Queens are the only members that lay fertilized eggs.
- A queen bee can produce up to 2,000 eggs within a day.
- Drones/male honey bees have only to fertilize new queens.
- Male honey bees die soon after mating.
- Male honey bees are born or developed from unfertilized female eggs. This process is known as arrhenotoky.
- Whereas development of unfertilized eggs which result in growth of female bees (very rarely a male). This process is asexual way. Thelototky is also a type of parthenogenesis.

Hence the correct answer is option C.

Note: Drones do not have stingers and also they do not collect nectar. During the mating process hundreds or even thousands male compete to mate with a queen. A drone honey bee can mate around 7 to 10 times during their lifetime. After numerous matings, the queen stores nearly 100 million sperms in her oviducts.