MASTER BEEKEEPER EXAM STUDY
GUIDE ACCURATE 100%
Honey bee races - ANSWER Cordovan, Russian, Buckfast
European honey bee subspecies - ANSWER Italian, Caucasian,carniloan ,German,
African
Italian honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera liguistica
Caucasian honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera caucasica
Carniloan - ANSWER Apis mellifera carica
German honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera mellifera
african honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera scutellate
Three species of honey bees - ANSWER Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera
eusocial - ANSWER Cooperative care of young
Reproductive division of labor
Overlapping generations that share same nest
Haploidiploidy - ANSWER Sex determination system in which males develop from
unfertilized eggs and are haploid, and females develop from fertilized eggs and are
diploid
queen - ANSWER Larger than workers
Sole reproductive female in the colony
She will lay 1000 to 1500 eggs per day
Life span 1-5 years
drone - ANSWER Sole function is mating
Reach sexual maturity at two weeks
Die after mating
Holometabolous - ANSWER Complete metamorphosis
Egg, larva, pupa, adult
Queen biology - ANSWER Emerge in 16 days
Virgins queens will kill capped queen cells
Multiple queen then will dual
Single virgin survives to mate generally within one week
, Queen mate with 12 to 14 drones
Start egg laying one week after mating
queen vs worker development - ANSWER All female larvae are feed same diet for 3
days
Queens are continually fed royal jelly- special protein Royalactin, certain 0lant
compounds are absent
By fifth in star , there are significant differences in the developing ovaries between the
castes
Widespread apoptosis occurs 8n worker ovaries, which s appears to be mediated in
part by juvenile hormone
Queen Differences from worker bees - ANSWER Spermatheca
Non barbed stinger
Mate and reproduce
Ovarioles ( 150 per each ovary)
Produce pheromones
Sub optimal mating - ANSWER Reduced amount of stored sperm - leads to queen
running out of sperm faster, resulting 8n superseded or drone laying
Reduced genetic diversity in colony- genetic diversity is critical for disease resistance
and productivity
Suboptimal pheromone production- queens inseminated with low volume of semen
produce a less attractive pheromone blend and are more likely to be superseded
Hopelessly queenless - ANSWER Queenless colony with no eggs or young larvae so
there is no way to rear a queen
Queen pheromone is absent
Worker ovaries can become activated
Colony becomes all drones
Rarely accepts in queen, shaking bees into new equipment may help and starting will a
queen cell
Pheromones - ANSWER Identication of the colony members - each colony has its only
smell
Queen pheromones- composition depends on age, mating status and quality
Brood pheromone- communicates if larvae are hunger or ready to cap
Worker produced. - alarm pheromone
Who cracked the dance code of bees? - ANSWER Karl von Frisch
Round vs waggle 50 to 100 yards vs waggle > 100
Forage up to 5 miles
Function of the head - ANSWER Info processing
Food and pheromone production
GUIDE ACCURATE 100%
Honey bee races - ANSWER Cordovan, Russian, Buckfast
European honey bee subspecies - ANSWER Italian, Caucasian,carniloan ,German,
African
Italian honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera liguistica
Caucasian honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera caucasica
Carniloan - ANSWER Apis mellifera carica
German honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera mellifera
african honey bee - ANSWER Apis mellifera scutellate
Three species of honey bees - ANSWER Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera
eusocial - ANSWER Cooperative care of young
Reproductive division of labor
Overlapping generations that share same nest
Haploidiploidy - ANSWER Sex determination system in which males develop from
unfertilized eggs and are haploid, and females develop from fertilized eggs and are
diploid
queen - ANSWER Larger than workers
Sole reproductive female in the colony
She will lay 1000 to 1500 eggs per day
Life span 1-5 years
drone - ANSWER Sole function is mating
Reach sexual maturity at two weeks
Die after mating
Holometabolous - ANSWER Complete metamorphosis
Egg, larva, pupa, adult
Queen biology - ANSWER Emerge in 16 days
Virgins queens will kill capped queen cells
Multiple queen then will dual
Single virgin survives to mate generally within one week
, Queen mate with 12 to 14 drones
Start egg laying one week after mating
queen vs worker development - ANSWER All female larvae are feed same diet for 3
days
Queens are continually fed royal jelly- special protein Royalactin, certain 0lant
compounds are absent
By fifth in star , there are significant differences in the developing ovaries between the
castes
Widespread apoptosis occurs 8n worker ovaries, which s appears to be mediated in
part by juvenile hormone
Queen Differences from worker bees - ANSWER Spermatheca
Non barbed stinger
Mate and reproduce
Ovarioles ( 150 per each ovary)
Produce pheromones
Sub optimal mating - ANSWER Reduced amount of stored sperm - leads to queen
running out of sperm faster, resulting 8n superseded or drone laying
Reduced genetic diversity in colony- genetic diversity is critical for disease resistance
and productivity
Suboptimal pheromone production- queens inseminated with low volume of semen
produce a less attractive pheromone blend and are more likely to be superseded
Hopelessly queenless - ANSWER Queenless colony with no eggs or young larvae so
there is no way to rear a queen
Queen pheromone is absent
Worker ovaries can become activated
Colony becomes all drones
Rarely accepts in queen, shaking bees into new equipment may help and starting will a
queen cell
Pheromones - ANSWER Identication of the colony members - each colony has its only
smell
Queen pheromones- composition depends on age, mating status and quality
Brood pheromone- communicates if larvae are hunger or ready to cap
Worker produced. - alarm pheromone
Who cracked the dance code of bees? - ANSWER Karl von Frisch
Round vs waggle 50 to 100 yards vs waggle > 100
Forage up to 5 miles
Function of the head - ANSWER Info processing
Food and pheromone production
