> ...had an average of around 1.5 million sperm in their spermatheca"
> ...cited an average of 5 million when working on the "queen quality project"
The second cited number would appear to be like the data offered in the book "Mating biology of honey bees (apis mellifera)" by G & N. Koeniger, Jamie Ellis & Lawrence Conner.
Their claim is that the spermatheca holds 5 - 7 million sperm from the 70 - 100 million sperm received during the virgin's mating flights.
Joe
Joe Komperda
Parker, CO
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