<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a solitary gregarious species that is known to be a good pollinator of pear, apple, and several other Rosaceae fruit plants. Mainly females are active in plant pollination, and therefore they are of strong interest to farmers. As natural populations are usually male biased, here we studied the possibility of rearing a female-biased population of Osmia bicornis by examining the effects of sex ratio changes on female survival, insemination rate, and sperm count in the spermatheca. Using bees that had completed their winter diapause and were maintained in flying cages, we created three groups with different male:female sex ratios: 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3. The 1:3 sex-ratio group exhibited the best survival of females, but the lowest spermathecae sperm count. The insemination rate did not differ between groups. Our results indicate that-at least among bees housed in isolator cages for plant breeding- skewing the sex ratio towards more females does not affect bee survival, and efficient insemination can be expected with twice as many females as males.</p></abstract>

The red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a solitary gregarious species that is known to be a good pollinator of pear, apple, and several other Rosaceae fruit plants. Mainly females are active in plant pollination, and therefore they are of strong interest to farmers. As natural populations are usually male biased, here we studied the possibility of rearing a female-biased population of Osmia bicornis by examining the effects of sex ratio changes on female survival, insemination rate, and sperm count in the spermatheca. Using bees that had completed their winter diapause and were maintained in flying cages, we created three groups with different male:female sex ratios: 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3. The 1:3 sex-ratio group exhibited the best survival of females, but the lowest spermathecae sperm count. The insemination rate did not differ between groups. Our results indicate that-at least among bees housed in isolator cages for plant breeding- skewing the sex ratio towards more females does not affect bee survival, and efficient insemination can be expected with twice as many females as males.

Effect of manipulated sex ratio on insemination of the red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. under net cage conditions

Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, 60-625 Poznań, Poland

Journal of Apicultural Science

The red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a solitary gregarious species that is known to be a good pollinator of pear, apple, and...

Effect of manipulated sex ratio on insemination of the red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. under net cage conditions

Published Online: Dec 31, 2013

Page range: 73 - 79

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2013-0018

Keywords
Megachilidae, Osmia bicornis, sex ratio, spermatheca, sperm

This content is open access.

Effect of manipulated sex ratio on insemination of the red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. under net cage conditions

Published Online: Dec 31, 2013

Page range: 73 - 79

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2013-0018

KeywordsMegachilidae, Osmia bicornis, sex ratio, spermatheca, sperm

This content is open access.

Keywords
Megachilidae, Osmia bicornis, sex ratio, spermatheca, sperm