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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:28:04 -0500
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Rick Green asks, "why a queenless hive makes laying workers who in turn
produce drones?
It would seem that these drones came from failed genetics, the hive died, so
why would
nature chance spreading these genes rather than creating none at all?"

I doubt highly from a genetics point of view, that the genes being passed on
from a
laying worker hive include a propensity for the queen to fail.  I just can't
imagine
that such a combination of chromosomes exists, and if it did it would have
fallen out
of the gene pool long ago.  It's a far stretch to assume a queenless hive
represents
"failed genetics".

Laying worker hives that produce only drones is a way to ensure that the
genetic material
from that hive remains in the gene pool, rather than weeding it out.  In a
natural
environment, it is unlikely that a hive will become queenless.  Failing
queens are
superceded.  It's possible that a virgin queen could meet an untimely demise
on her
nuptual flight(s), but such a situation is not a genetic flaw.  The
resulting laying worker
hive may indeed have a very good compliment of genetic material and the
ability to keep the
genetic material in the pool after the queen's demise may be viewed by some
as nothing
short of miraculous!

> Unless, having lived and failed is considered genetically better than not
having
> lived at all.
Genetics make no considerations or judgements.

Aaron Morris - Thinking there's some things you can chalk up to
genetics, there's some things you can't.

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