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Blue-Russian drone honeybees drinking.Drones are male honeybees. They are produced when the queen bee lays unfertilized eggs. This type of reproduction is called parthenogenesis and it results in the queen and drones sharing the same genes. Drones are haploid with 16 chromosomes.
A laying worker bee will produce drones exclusively.
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Anatomy
Drones are characterized by eyes that are twice the size of those of worker bees and queens, and a body size greater than that of worker bees, though usually smaller than the queen bee. Their abdomen is stouter than the abdomen of workers or queen. Although heavy bodied, drones have to be able to fly fast enough to catch up with the queen in flight.
Drones are stingless.
Development
| Type | Egg | Larva | Cell capped | Pupa | Developmental Period | Start of Fertility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drone | 3 days | 6 1/2 days | 10 days | 14 1/2 days | 24 days | approx. 38 days |
Role
Their main function in the hive is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen. Mating occurs in flight, which accounts for the need of the drones for better vision, which is provided by their big eyes. Should a drone succeed in mating it will soon die because the reproductive organ and associated abdominal tissues are ripped from the drone's body as copulation occurs. Several drones mate with a virgin queen on her mating flights. Honeybee queen breeders may breed drones to be used for artificial insemination or open mating. A queen mating yard must have many drones to be successful.
In areas with severe winters, all drones are driven out of the hive. A colony begins to rear drones in spring and drone population reaches its peak coinciding with swarm season. The life expectancy of a drone is about 90 days.
Behavior
Drones never exhibit typical worker bee behaviors such as nectar and pollen gathering, nursing, or hive construction. Since the worker bee's stinger is a modified ovipositor (an egg laying organ), the drone is defenceless and can not defend the hive. This has led the drone to be considered as a canonical example of a worthless member of a society. Although the drone is highly specialized to one function, mating and continuing the propagation of the hive, it is not completely without side benefit to the hive. All bees, when they sense the hive's temperature deviating from proper limits, either generate heat by shivering, or exhaust heat by moving air with their wings — behaviors which drones do share with worker bees. Drones fly in abundance in the early afternoon and are known to congregate in drone congregation areas a good distance away from the hive.
Drones and Varroa destructor
Varroa mite on a honeybee drone larvaVarroa destructor, the parasitic mite, propagates within the brood cell of bees. The varroa mite prefers drone brood as it guarantees a longer development period which is important for its own propagation success. The number of varroa mites can be kept in check by removing the capped drone brood and either freezing the brood comb or heating it.
References
Loper, G. M, Wolf, W. W., & Taylor, O. R (1992). Honey bee drone flyways and congregation areas, radar observations. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 65: 223-230.
See also
| Honeybee types and characteristics () | |||
| Queen bees | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen bee | Virgin queen | Piping queen | |||
| Worker bees | |||
| Worker bee | Laying worker bee | |||
| Drone bees | |||
| Drone bee | |||
| Other pages | |||
| List of honeybee articles | |||