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Q.Describe the process of sex-determination in honeybees.

Bihar BsebBihar Board Intermediate 2025Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Honeybee sex = haplodiploidy: diploid (fertilised) eggs → females; haploid (unfertilised) eggs → males (drones). Males are haploid, arise by parthenogenesis, have a mother (and grandfather) but no father and no sons.

Sex determination in honeybees is by the haplo-diploid method (also called the haplodiploidy mechanism):

  1. Female development: When an egg is fertilised by a sperm, it becomes diploid (2n = 32). Such fertilised eggs develop into females. Depending on the nature of the food (royal jelly) given to the larva, a female becomes either a fertile queen or a sterile worker.

  2. Male development (drones): Unfertilised eggs develop parthenogenetically into males (drones). Therefore, males are haploid (n = 16), being produced without fertilisation.

Consequences of this mechanism:

  • Males (drones) are produced from unfertilised eggs, so a male bee has no father and cannot have sons; but it has a mother and a grandfather.
  • Males are haploid and produce sperm by mitosis (not by reductional meiosis, since they are already haploid). …

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