Stan.
Hi.
You are quiet correct to ask for justification of qoutes, regardless
of whether if you are an "academic" or not. So no apology is ever
required  for that!
>
> >The queen will mate with some 17-34 drones per mating
> >flight (gary 1963; Adams et al. 1977) and may take up to 5 mating
> >flights (Roberts 1944; Gary 1971).>
 
The number of mating flights is by observation. It is weather
dependent and probably good reliable data. However it isnt confirmed
that queens that went on lots (3-5) MATING FLIGHTS ACQUIRED
SUFFICIENT SPERM IN THE EARLY FLIGHTS, EXCEPT THEY WERE OBSERVED TO
EXUIDE SPERM 9SUPPORT FOR MIXING) SUGGESTING AN EXCESS RATHER THAN
SHORTAGE. (OOPS sorry about the caps locK)
 The estimates of copulation numbers per mating flight are based
upon observation and tethered queens. Both have problems that are
likely to lead to probable overestimation. In the former case an
observed drone encounter with a queen during the mating flight may
not be an actual copulation. Additiopnally, drione grasping with the
queens genitally may look like a brief copulation but again the
female may reject the male before sperm transfer occurs. In the
second case the tethered female cannot fly away, land etc and so it
may be overestimated due to forced matings. I therefore would be
happy with your assumption that these are likely to be overestimates
(i neither keep bees nor work on them, so cannot comment!), but
included them because the second point, namely minimal paternal
analysis only yields the minimal number of copulations which
successfully transfer viable sperm to the queen which she uses. this
may be reasonable estimate of copulations or an underestimate
 
> >Genetic studies of the queens progeny using minisatellite dna
> >fingerprinting, as John Burgess has pointed out , and  more
> >recently using microsatellite analysis (a more sensitive form of
> >genetic dna  fingerprinting), has confirmed that the fertilised eggs
> >(workers) are derived from at least 10-17different drones (e.g. Adams
> >et al. 1997; Estoup et al. 1994)
 
I should add the data of Haberl & Tautz 1998 here as well which is
pertinent to whether if sperm are mixed following mating (sorry
Micheal and thanks for drawing the list and me to it). Again they
used microsatellite loci (dna fingerprinting) and showed the
fertilised eggs laid sequentially are from multiple paternity, but do
not change much over time. This is really good support for the sperm
mixing arguement and so relevant to the original post.
For those unfamiliar with microsats, i should point out it is a very
reliable system if sufficient loci are used.
>
> >Therefore why the excess, that is 17-37 drone copulations per mating
> >flight and up to 5 mating flights?
Robert Butcher,
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology Unit,
Department of Biological Sciences,
Dundee University,
Dundee, DD1 4HN,
Tayside, Scotland,
UK.
Work Phone:- 01382-344291 (Office), 01382-344756 (Lab).
Fax:- 01382-344864
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