Monday, October 9, 2023

XY is male, XX is female...

 ...not if you're a bee.

Bee sex is determined by the Csd gene, which has more than 100 variations. Except...that it's still the same. Two different alleles, girl. Two of the same, boy.

But you don't want to be a sexually produced boy bee. Drones are produced via asexual reproduction and reproduce only outside the hive.

So, what happens to male workers?

Infanticide. The eggs are "not raised." Which is probably a euphemism, nothing's wasted in a hive.

No, we don't currently know how the workers can tell. Scent is the lead theory.

Why do we care? It could be useful for breeding better bees.

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