On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 10:45:09 -0300, Claude Hachey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I am at a bit of a loss.  I came across some colonies headed by new Australian/Italians in 
mid summer and found several with eggs only.  No hatched brood. 

I looked for at least two hours to find a good explanation for this. I know that inbreeding 
leads to low brood viability but I have never heard of 100% inviable eggs. 

> Research workers investigating apparent low egg viability in inbred lines discovered that 
sex in bees is determined by the alleles at a single locus. If an egg is a heterozygote at this 
locus, it will develop into a female. If it is homozygous or hemizygous, it will develop into a 
male. The apparent nonviable eggs found in the inbred lines were diploid eggs homozygous 
at the sex locus. Worker bees selectively remove and destroy homozygous diploid larvae 
from the comb just after they hatch. 

from 
Breeding and Genetics of Honey Bees
By: John R. Harbo and Thomas E. Rinderer
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/HBBiology/breeding_genetics.htm

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