But even for your youngest readers the content is not objectionable. Visolela There are some references to sex, but nothing graphic or lewd, and depending on the age you are thinking (YA is pretty varied) might even be an opport …more There are some references to sex, but nothing graphic or lewd, and depending on the age you are thinking (YA is pretty varied) might even be an opportunity for discussion about bragging and posturing. In my many years of studying insects, I have come to believe that no matter how bizarre an idea we humans can conceive, it has likely already occurred in the insect world." So… to get to your question! It does appear that the bee in your story was reproducing in a factual way, not a fictional contrivance by the author.
Whether this holds true for the honeybee populations in the United States, I cannot say, but I would not be surprised if the same strategy could occur in our domestic bees. The queens resulting from asexually reproducing females always reproduce sexually by mating with males. In the honeybee subspecies Apis mellifera capensis, which occurs in the very southern tip of Africa, thelytoky has been documented whereby unmated female workers can lay unfertilized eggs which develop into fertile female queens. Female worker bees can also lay infertile eggs that develop into drones. Once mated, a queen’s fertilized eggs become either female workers or future queens and her unfertilized eggs become the male drones. The normal reproductive pathway for honeybees is for the female queen to mate with and be fertilized by a male drone. Within the order Hymenoptera - the bees, wasps and ants – there are numerous examples of species that reproduce parthenogenetically, whereby females reproduce more females without fertilization by a male. The bulk of my bee experience lies in having maintained domestic beehives as part of a living insect ‘zoo’ that the museum once had some years ago. I will attempt to provide an answer, although my expertise is in wood-boring beetles and not bees.
"Your inquiry about honeybee reproduction strategies came to me through our Marketing department.
I'm truly impressed that Laline Paull researched so well and accurately. Androw, Biodiversity Services Facility, Section of Invertebrate Zoology was kind enough to reply in detail. (view spoiler) [I was so fascinated by this mystery that I wrote to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to the "ask an expert" department.
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