Effects of seasonal variations on the development of different castes of honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Apis mellifera is a bee species with three types of adults: a queen, hundreds of drones (males), and thousands of workers (sterile females). Both queens and workers are developed from fertilized eggs. The developmental stages of A. mellifera are divided into four phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Queens are larger while drones are intermediate between queen and worker. The study examined the development of worker, drone, and queen bees, A. mellifera, at a local farmer apiary in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Six colonies were installed and observed during the breeding season (November-January) and dearth period (July-September) between 2021-2022. The colonies were dequeened, inspected for eggs, and introduced to new queens. The queen's development was observed during the breeding season, with worker bees rearing new queens. The egg periods, larva periods, and pupal stages for workers, drones, and queens were 2.90±0.20, 3.06±0.07, 6.82±0.33, and 5.32±0.39, respectively during breeding season. Egg periods, larvae, and pupal stages were 3.09±0.05 days, 6.64±0.32 days, and 13.87±0.20 days, respectively, resulting in total developmental periods of 21.29±0.26 and 24.27±0.43 days during dearth period.