RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DENSITY OF BRISTLES COVERING THE FOREWING AND THE NUMBER _ OF OVARIOLES OF HONEYBEE QUEENS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Economic Entomology and Pesticides, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

2 Department of Bee Research, Plant Protection Research Institute, Dokki, Egypt

Abstract

Three genetical backgrounds of honeybee queens were chosen to establish
the relation between number of ovarioles and bristles covering the forewing. For
counting the bristles, an vedio camera connected with a binocolar and a monitor were
used to display the mounted wing, and with the aid of a lined plastic sheet the count of
the bristles on the second discoidal cell was done. The results indicated that the
relation between the two parameters in the three groups was linear and negatively
correlated with each other. The coefficient of regression was estimated as 0.52, 0.32
and 0.29 for Egyptian, Italian and hybrid bees, respectively. This study may help for
detremining the number of ovarioles of honeybee queens without needing for killing
and dissected them.