Subject: Mutations in my hive...

From: [email-masked] (ManChem)
Date: 24 May 1995 04:49:38 GMT

I just destroyed a queen in one of my hives that seems to have been a 
rather bizarre mutation.  In early March I split some hives to increase 
my number of colonies and reduce swarming.  I live here in the New 
Orleans area and the weather is warm enough so we have early flowering to 
help these hives increase rapidly (and, I feed lots of sugar solution.)
Anyway, one of my hives produced a mutant queen who DID NOT have very 
desirable characteristics.  First she was pure beige in color.  NO 
stripes and most of her offspring were either lacking stripes or the 
stripes were very faint.  About half the drones had a large bright spot 
in the middle of each of their eyes (I have not idea if this affected 
their vision but I think it would since it looked like they were missing 
some of the eye rather than simply being colored white.)  On top of all 
this, the workers in the brood area distributed honey and pollen in a 
haphazard patter with the queen laying eggs randomly throughout the area. 
 Lastly, I do not think this colony would have produced a lot of noney 
since all my other splits have quite a bit of freshly drawn comb andhoney 
in the supers while this colony had very little.
  I am posting this since it is a curious experience and wonder if anyone 
else has seen anthing like this.  I have a background in biology and some 
genetics so this rather dramatic mutation (with apparently more than one 
characteristic changing) is very unusual.  Both physical and behavioral 
characteristics changed in just one generation.  
  (NOTE:  With all the deficiencies in this colony I doubt they would 
have survived but I chose to get rid of the queen before too many Drones 
would spread the deficient gene (or genes) in any other colonies.

Any comments?

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From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 25 May 1995 05:34:36 GMT

A related question....

This morning I was hiving a swarm and upon close observation (I was 
looking for the queen) noticed a very strange looking worker crawling 
around with the rest of them.  She/It had no abdomen.  It had the head and 
thorax of a worker, and six legs, but where the abdomen should have been 
connected, this bee just ended.  She was walking around like the rest of 
them and didn't seem harmed or in any distress.  I watched her for a 
while to see if I'd somehow cleanly crushed the abdomen off of her during 
the hiving process.  This didn't appear to be the case.  Any comments on 
this one?

Dave

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From: "K.J.M.Hooker" <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 May 1995 12:07:53 +0100

Loosing an abdomen is somewhat difficult as there is too much plumbing there 
that is needed to keep the bee alive.  I suggest that what you saw is 
the remains of a wasps meal.

Several years ago I witnessed a queen wasp regularly visiting the front 
of one of my hives, she would catch a worker, cut off the abdomen and 
fly off with it leaving the thorax and head to walk back into the hive!

Keith JM Hooker BA MIPD
Technology Management Ltd
Whitstable, Kent, UK, EC (just)

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From: bill fernihough <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 May 1995 04:57:53 GMT

Heavens, you should have caught it, heck, no stinger either!

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From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 26 May 1995 05:01:27 GMT

bill fernihough ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Heavens, you should have caught it, heck, no stinger either!

I know, I know.... but the damned thing looked so ridiculous...  I 
couldn't bring myself to bother it.  I figured it had enough problems.  
Besides, maybe it had teeth...

Dave

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From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 27 May 1995 09:14:45 GMT

K.J.M.Hooker ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Loosing an abdomen is somewhat difficult as there is too much plumbing there 
: that is needed to keep the bee alive.  I suggest that what you saw is 
: the remains of a wasps meal.

: Several years ago I witnessed a queen wasp regularly visiting the front 
: of one of my hives, she would catch a worker, cut off the abdomen and 
: fly off with it leaving the thorax and head to walk back into the hive!

This sounds quite plausible since there are queen yellowjackets pestering 
the hives.  Thanks for the info.

Dave