A drone copulating with a queen obviously
attracts other drones. By leaving his mating sign in
the queen after mating he does not prevent other
drones from mating but in contrast seems to facilitate
further matings. Besides its function as an
optical marker the mating sign keeps the sting
chamber of the queen open and seems to protect the
endophallus of the following drone against the
sting of the queen.

Polyandry in honey bees is not a result of a single
drone producing too few sperm; in fact he produces
more than the spermatheca can hold. During
mating the queen stores the sperm of all drones in
the oviducts and only after returning to the colony
is the spermatheca filled with sperm. This process
takes about 20 h and during this time the queen
expels more than 90% of sperm.

The role of the mating sign in honey bees, Apis mellifera L.: does it hinder or
promote multiple mating? GUDRUN KOENIGER
Anim. Behav.,1990,39,444-449

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