title: Egg viability and worker policing in honey bees.
abstract: In many species of social Hymenoptera, unmated workers can lay eggs that will produce males by parthenogenesis. Nevertheless, in queenright honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera), worker reproduction is low. One possible mechanism for this difference is worker policing, the removal of worker-laid eggs by other workers. This behavior can evolve in species in which queens are multiply mated, where workers are more closely related to the sons of their mother than those of their sisters. Another possible mechanism of the low level of worker reproduction is worker-laid eggs being less viable than queen-laid eggs. We show that this difference in quality is the case for honey bees.
authors.affiliation: Beegroup, Biozentrum der Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. pirk@biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de
authors.forename: Christian W W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Pirk
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Randall
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hepburn
authors.forename: Robin F A
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Moritz
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tautz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002470:Cell Survival; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology; D012098:Reproduction; D012919:Social Behavior