Proportion of males sons-of-the-queen and sons-of-workers inPlebeia droryana(Hymenoptera, Apidae) estimated from data of an MDH isozymic polymorphic system

摘要

Stingless bees from 14 hives ofPlebeia droryanawere analysed for the MDH isozymic polymorphic system, which is controlled by four alleles,MDH1-1, MDH1-2, MDH1-3andMDH1-4. The hives came from four different localities in Brazil and at least 15 drones were tested from each one, to estimate the proportion of them that are sons of the queen or of workers; the obtained values were 83.8 (range 100 to 43) and 16.2 (range 0 to 57), respectively. It is suggested that male-producing workers evolved from the need to preservexo-heteroalleles.