Abstract
A majority of social Hymenoptera species such as ants, bees and wasps are monandrous or exhibit extremely low paternity frequency. Multiple mating by queens has independently evolved in some species of advanced social Hymenoptera (Boomsma and Ratnieks, 1996). The honeybee belongs to the genus Apis; they display extremely high levels of polyandry, resulting in very low genetic relatedness among workers and decreased potential inclusive fitness. Several researchers have attempted to explain the evolution and maintenance of extreme polyandry in honeybees by several plausible hypotheses such as sperm need, task specialization, sperm selection, reproductive conflict, resistance to parasites and diseases, and curious promiscuity of queens (reviewed by Palmer and Oldroyd, 2000; Tarpy and Page, 2001; Oldroyd and
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