Dr. Roger Hoopingarner discusses Sex Determination in Honey Bees
Castes; Parthenogenesis and Sex Determination in Honey Bees; Larvae and Pupae Development
February 12, 2013, Dr. Roger Hoopingarner lectures on the sex determination in honey bees, development of male (drone) and female (workers and queen) bees, as well as the role of sex alleles and the consequences of inbreeding in bees. A castes indicates a division of bees into classes. Parthenogenesis refers to reproducing an egg without fertilization. A chicken can produce an egg each day without fertilization and so can a worker bee in a queenless hive. A laying worker will always produce a drone. The word alleles is defined as one of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome.
Dr. Roger Hoopingarner started keeping bees as a boy scout 65 years ago. His interest in bees grew and he went on to receive his B.S. degree from Michigan State University in Entomology and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His doctoral research was on the genetics and environmental factors in queen rearing.