Talk:Megachilidae

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[edit] Sting? Reproduction?

Can these bees sting? Honeybee males grow from unfertilized eggs, those laid by the virgin worker bees. They are haploid. Are the males in these species haploid?

Megachilid females can sting, but rarely do (there's no colony to protect), and when they do, it is a very mild sting. Drone honeybees normally result from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen, not workers. The queen measures the size of the cell, and for the larger, drone-sized cells, she deliberately lays an unfertilized egg. If she is failing (running out of stored sperm), she may only lay unfertilized eggs in cells of both sizes. If she dies, or is removed, sometimes workers will lay, and the progeny will be drones because they are unfertilized, but they are generally malnourished, undersized, and not able to reproduce. Except for the south African race of bees, laying workers is the death knell for a honeybee colony. The exception is more complicated. Pollinator 02:24, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)

OK, I was wondering exactly the same thing about the sting, but also, which kind of sting? Barbed or smooth? Since they'd been swarming all over my lupines lately, I considered doing a little empirical research in the garden to find out for sure, but I guess the results wouldn't be admissible in Wikipedia anyway, what with that "no original research" rule. And even if it is mild, it's still probably not a lot of fun (though I grew up helping my mother with her hives, so I'm certainly used to it!). -- John Owens (talk) 15:55, 2005 Jun 22 (UTC)

Answer: In all bees (and, in fact, all Hymenoptera species), males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid. This genetic system is known as haplodiploidy. These bees can sting, though the males don't since they don't have stingers (stingers are modified ovipositors).