page_title: Western honey bee
section_title: Drones
hierarchical_section_title: Western honey bee / Social caste / Drones
caption_attribution_description: English: Pupae of drones (honeybee). Here we see drones in various stages of development. On the left, a stretched prepupa (age 11 to 14 days from the egg being laid). At this stage the cell is already capped. After 14 days, the prepupa has shed its skin, and the final form of the bee can be seen. At first, it is all white (second from left). Later it starts to gain colour, first with the eye, then the whole pupa. The developing bee remains as a pupa from 15 days after the egg being laid until day 24. In the background is a foundation wall of wax imprinted with cells for the workers. Deutsch: Puppen von Drohnen der Honigbiene. Man sieht hier Drohnen in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien. Links eine Streckmade oder Vorpuppe (Alter 11 bis 14 Tage ab Eilage). In diesem Stadium ist die Zelle bereits verdeckelt. Nach 14 Tagen häutet sich die Vorpuppe, es entsteht dann die Puppe, der schon die endgültige Form der Biene anzusehen ist. Zunächst ist sie ganz weiß (zweite von links), später beginnen sich zuerst die Augen und dann die ganze Puppe einzufärben. Die Puppenzeit dauert von 15. Tag ab Eilage bis zum Schlüpfen am 24. Tag. Als Unterlage wurde eine Mittelwand aus Wachs verwendet, auf der Zellen für Arbeiterinnen eingeprägt sind.
context_page_description: The western honey bee or European honey bee is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for "bee", and mellifera is the Latin for "honey-bearing", referring to the species' production of honey.
  Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female, many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the dance language.
  The western honey bee was one of the first domesticated insects, and it is the primary species maintained by beekeepers to this day for both its honey production and pollination activities. With human assistance, the western honey bee now occupies every continent except Antarctica. Because of its wide cultivation, this species is the single most important pollinator for agriculture globally. Western honey bees are threatened by pests and diseases, especially the Varroa mite and colony collapse disorder.
context_section_description: Drones are the colony's male bees. Since they do not have ovipositors, they do not have stingers. Drone honey bees do not forage for nectar or pollen. The primary purpose of a drone is to fertilize a new queen. Many drones mate with a given queen in flight; each dies immediately after mating, since the process of insemination requires a lethally convulsive effort. Drone honey bees are haploid (single, unpaired chromosomes) in their genetic structure, and are descended only from their mother (the queen). In temperate regions, drones are generally expelled from the hive before winter, dying of cold and starvation since they cannot forage, produce honey or care for themselves. Given their larger size (1.5 times that of worker bees), inside the hive it is believed that drones may play a significant role in thermoregulation. Drones are typically located near the center of hive clusters for unclear reasons. It is postulated that it is to maintain sperm viability, which may be compromised at cooler temperatures. Another possible explanation is that a more central location allows drones to contribute to warmth, since at temperatures below 25 °C (77 °F) their ability to contribute declines.
caption: Development of a drone pupa
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