Abstract
Eight colonies of stingless bees (Melipona compressipes), were examined and the numbers of eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult workers were counted. A linear relationship was found between the number of workers present in the colony and the number of provisioned cells that contained eggs. All colonies were producing some reproductives suggesting that colonies of M. compressipes produce their reproductives during the rapid expansion phase of colony growth and, based on model 18 of Croier and Page (Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 18: 105-115, 1985) should be monandrous. A model of the evolution of mating frequency and queen replacement is presented that predicts the co-occurrence of monandary and queen replacement that has been reported for Melipona spp.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 209-229 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Revista Brasileira de Genetica |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - Oct 2 1990 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics