Failure or loss of queens has been considered one of the most important factors leading to colony losses, especially outside of the typical queen-rearing season. “Poor queens” are reported as the primary problem in a number of beekeeping operations, and it consistently ranks among the top reasons for colony failure.

Although queens have a 3–4 year adult lifespan, diminished longevity of queens (<1 year) is commonly and increasingly observed.

Currently, the majority of queens in the US are produced by relatively few commercial queen producers, which raises concerns about a lack of genetic diversity and the spread of certain diseases, particularly those that are transmitted vertically. 

In sum, the interactions between queen health and honey bee diseases have not been sufficiently studied because their importance was underestimated. However, many unanswered questions in this area provide fertile grounds for fundamental biological research and the possibility to apply insights to improve honey bee health.

Amiri, E., Strand, M. K., Rueppell, O., & Tarpy, D. R. (2017). Queen quality and the impact of honey bee diseases on queen health: potential for interactions between two major threats to colony health. Insects, 8(2), 48.

¶

We examined the viability of spermatozoa in sexually mature drones from eight apiaries in three counties in Central Texas during the summers of 2013 and 2014. We sampled 1,622 drones from two counties in 2013, and 556 drones from three counties in 2014. Using dual fluorescent flow cytometry, viability of drone spermatozoa was measured as the proportion of total spermatozoa that was viable. The average spermatozoa viability was 46.2% in 2013 and 67.0% in 2014. 

A consistent pattern both years was that spermatozoa viability overall was low compared to previously published results that found average viability of 80% or greater (Collins and Donoghue 1999, Johnson et al. 2013). The discrepancy might reflect the season in which the drones were collected. While we collected drones in June and July, the reproductive season in this region of the United States typically occurs from February to May. 

Our results suggested that factors such as exposure to insecticides or seasonal availability of forage might be more important than inter-colonial genetic differences in fertility of honey bee drones during the reproductive season. 

Fisher, A., Harrison, K., Love, C., Varner, D., & Rangel, J. (2018). Spatio-Temporal Variation in Viability of Spermatozoa of Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, Drones in Central Texas Apiaries. Southwestern Entomologist, 43(2), 343-356.

PLB

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