Re: Life span of the drone

> Witherell (1972) reported drones making 25 mating flights during the average adult lifespan of 21.2 days with a 96.2% probability of a drone returning from a mating flight. Fukuda and Ohtani (1977) found the mean lifespan of drones was 13.9 days in June, 32.1 days in July, 42.6 days in August and 39.7 days in September. The shortness of the lifespan in June was thought to be related to increased flight activity due to better weather or the presence of more unmated queens. The lower survivorship of drones in September is attributed to the rejection of drones from colonies in late fall (Free and Williams, 1975).

SOURCE:
Lee, P. C. (1985). Reproduction and growth of temperate-evolved honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) (Doctoral dissertation, Theses (Dept. of Biological Sciences)/Simon Fraser University).  

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