3 ms·
Since I was curious too, I dug up this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847503/#:~:text=Immediately https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC
by scarmig 3y ago
Since I was curious too, I dug up this:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847503/#:~:text=Immediately https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847503/#:~:tex...
Multiple males do mate with the queen, with the everted endophallus acting as a signal to other males and perhaps offering protection from the queen's stinger. Technical term seems to be "mating sign," and males prefer queens with a mating sign.
- arp242 3y agoBut there are 20,000 bee species, many of which are actually solitary. That just looks at the honey bee.