At last, a subject I worked on ....
The spermatheca was earlier (before aboot 1970) thought to supply oxygen to the
enclosed sperm by way of the profuse tracheal tubing surrounding it. H.K. Poole
( who I was privileged to work with as a technician in Tucson, Arizona between
1967 and 1973) showed through scanning electron microscopy that the spermatheca
wall was too thick, dense, and uniform to allow this. Rather, the sperm are held
in an almost quiescent state until needed, which you know can be up to 1-2
years. I did nearly 150 microsurgical operations on live queens and was always
struck by the beauty of the patterns visible through the spermatheca wall, of
circulating sperm. The cause of the patterns is still unknown, insofar as I
know, but there was obviously much mixing going on. There have been studies by
Taber and others on the "clumping" of certain groups of sperm, which leads to
grouping of eggs from the same father drone, but I am not as familiar with them.
 
  - Hope this helps - there is still much work to be done in this field -
Unfortunately, Poole was forced into a resignation to avoid a transfer back into
the humid climate he had escaped from, and the research was not continued - a
truly sad day for reproductive physiology research in the USDA.
   - John Edwards, Tucson
 
>
> Is it known how the queen stores the sperm from different drones?.
>
> Is the sperm held in the spermatheca such that the sperm from drone A is
> used, and when completely used up is followed by the sperm from drone B etc.
> If this be the case then we will get a batch of workers with like
> characteristics, followed by another batch of workers with like
> characteristics but possibly different from the earlier batch.
 
<snip>
 
> Tom Barrett
> 49 South Park
> Foxrock
> Dublin 18
> Ireland
>
> Latitude  53 Degrees 16' North
> Longitude  6 Degrees  9' West of Greenwich
 
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
John F. Edwards
Biological Lab. Technician
"Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier"
Carl Hayden Bee Research Center
2000 E. Allen Road
Tucson, Arizona 85719
 
Office: 520-670-6380, ext.110
Fax:    520-670-6493
 
Geog. location:
32.27495 N
110.9402 W
 
Lab webpages:
http://198.22.133.109/
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/index.html
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/jephotos.htm