Discussion on another list,,,
Just pondering how leaving 
a mating sign is in the 
interest of the drone...

I assumed as many do that the 
mating plug may give some advantage
to the drone in hindering subsequent 
matings, but it appears the opposite
may be true.

How would leaving a mating sign 
evolve, if it is not in the interest of
the drone?

====

A Game Theoretical Analysis of the Mating 
Sign Behavior in the Honey bee

Source:
http://www.uncg.edu/mat/bio-math/preprints/Wi09.pdf

"After copulation, drones leave
a mating sign in the genital opening 
of the queen which has been shown to promote
additional mating of the queen"

=====

Source:
Proteomic analyses of male contributions to honey 
 bee sperm storage and mating
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847503/
 
 "In contrast to many insects (Gillott, 2003) the 
honey bee mating plug does not seem to negatively 
affect the success of subsequent mates, and indeed 
might actually aid this success (Koeniger, 1986)"

Best wishes
J Waggle

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