![]() "Testicular Changes of Honey Bee Drones, Apis Mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), During Sexual Maturation." Journal of Insect Science, vol. "How Humans Are Messing Up Bee Sex." National Geographic, 12 Sept. "Observation of the Mating Behavior of Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera L.) Queens Using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID): Factors Influencing the Duration and Frequency of Nuptial Flights." Insects, vol. "Field Guide to Beekeeping." American Bee Journal, Sept. "Animal Sex: How Bees Do It." Livescience.Com, 4 Mar. Until we know more we rate this as a "Research in Progress."īryner, Jeanna. We have reached out to a number of experts to confirm whether the testicles indeed explode in this process, though the overall claim appears to be correct. Ultimately the endophallus is detached from the male honey bee's abdomen, and he dies soon after. Thus, the everted drone becomes paralyzed and ultimately dies as a result of forcing out his endophallus and copulating with the queen. It takes much of the drone's hemolymph to force the endophallus out of the body. ![]() At this point, what was the inside of the endophallus while in the body becomes the outside of the endophallus when pushed from the body. The endophallus is forced out of the abdomen when the drone copulates with the queen. During storage, the endophallus is inverted, or turned inside out. The endophallus is stored inside of the drone's body. The endophallus, which is the equivalent of the penis in mammals, gets inverted during copulation: They serve as the home of the sperm until they are expelled from the body while copulating with the queen. These vesicles are sausage-shaped organs that grow in size as sperm migrate from the testes to fill them. By this time, the testes have reduced in size significantly since the sperm have migrated to the seminal vesicles. Drones reach sexual maturity around 12-13 days after emerging. Immature drones have large testes that are composed of tubules in which sperm are produced and mature. Professor Jerzy Woyke of Warsaw University of Life Sciences told LiveScience that in some drones, the tip of their endophallus bursts.Īccording to a 2021 paper by University of Saskatchewan researchers in the Journal of Insect Science, "Drone reproductive organs consist of paired testes, conducting tubules and ducts (vas efferens, vas deferens, and ejaculatory ducts), accessory sex glands (seminal vesicles and mucus glands), and endophallus."Īccording to Jamie Ellis, professor of entomology at the University of Florida, male honey bees have a "somewhat complex reproductive system." He described the drones' testes in the following way: Geoff Williams, an entomologist at Auburn University and an expert on honeybee reproduction, told National Geographic: "Probably not such a great death. The drone's endophallus stays behind with the queen, and he falls to the ground paralysed to await his end. This is the climax of a male's life-and it's rapidly downhill from there. ![]() ![]() He releases his semen with such speed and force that there's said to be an audible pop. ![]() When a lucky drone reaches one of the queens, he mounts her and flexes his abs to extend his endophallus, the bee equivalent of a penis, into the queen's sting chamber. Eager males hurtle through the sky behind a virgin queen like a comet's trail, jockeying for position. It starts with a virgin queen bee gathering genetic material she will use to inseminate eggs, in what is referred to as a "nuptial flight." National Geographic described the process:Įach queen will mate with about twelve of her suitors, fewer than one percent of the males in attendance. The above tweet is mostly correct, though we have reached out to experts to confirm some details. ![]()
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