Sexual Maturity and Mating Ability of the Bumblebees, Bombus terrestris
2016
Yoon, H.J., National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju, Republic of Korea | Lee, K.Y., National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju, Republic of Korea | Shin, M., National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju, Republic of Korea | Kim, S.Y., National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju, Republic of Korea
To secure superior traits of the Bombus terrestris through increased mating rate, we investigated the age of sexual maturity of queen and male, and mating ability of male. In the age of sexual maturity of queen, mating occurred at 6.7% immediately after eclosion and it was the highest as 85.0% at 10 days after emergence. However, a remarkable decrease was occurred at 20 days after the emergence. With regard to oviposition rate, the highest rate was observed as 81.3~81.8% at 6 to 10 days of eclosion. The rate of colony foundation and progeny-queen production were the highest as 43.8% and 37.5%, respectively, at 8 days of eclosion. In the age of sexual maturity of male, mating rate was as high as 38.3% immediately after the eclosion, the highest as 80.0% at 25 days of eclosion, and 76.6% at 8 days of eclosion. The oviposition rate was the highest as 76.9% at 6 days of eclosion, and decreased to 75.0% at 8 days and 72.7% at 10 days of eclosion. The rate of colony foundation and progeny-queen production were the highest as 40.9% and 40.9%, respectively, at 10 days of eclosion. Summarized, our results indicate that sexual maturity for mating of B. terrestris is most favorable 6~8 days after eclosion for queen and 6~10 days after for male. In terms of mating ability of male, it turned out that each B. terrestris male is able to mate up to seven times. The mating rate was 74.3% at first mating, 25.3% at second mating, 15.3% third mating, 11.7% at fourth mating, 7.0% at fifth mating, 3.3% at sixth mating and 0.3% at seventh mating. The rate of oviposition, colony foundation and progeny-queen production of the queen mated for only one time were 83.0%, 45.0% and 45.0%, respectively, presenting two-fold improvement in the colony development that of twice mating.
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