Development times of Male and Female Eggs of the Honey Bee1

Abstract

The development times of female eggs of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., were significantly shorter (P < 0.01) than development times of male eggs. Throughout their developmental period, the eggs were kept in an incubator (34.8°C, 60 to 80% RH) without adult bees. Haploid and diploid male eggs required about 3 h longer than female (always diploid) eggs. It is not known whether the development times of haploid and diploid male eggs are significantly different. Female eggs from 20 unrelated queens had mean development times that ranged from 68.8 to 74.2 h at 34.8°C; the 20 means averaged 71.4 ± 1.2 h (SD). The development times were altered by very slight changes in temperature. Female eggs kept at 34.8°C hatched about 1.4 h sooner than those kept at 34.3°C. Only 1% of the eggs hatched when kept at 29.8°C.