Artificial Feeding and Wing Symmetry in Drone Honeybees

Abstract

Wing asymmetry was used to measure the possible stress which could be created when we feed honeybee colony with cane and beet sugar syrup in comparison with feeding with honey (control). For this purpose, 25 traits of wing venation pattern on left and right forewing of drone honey bees were used. The results indicated that directional asymmetry (DA) was not related to the type of feeding. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) differed between characters and between feeding treatments, but no interaction was found between them. The individual characters were combined and analyzed as composite fluctuating asymmetry (CFA) to maximize the probability of detecting (FA)-stress relationship when it exists. The result showed that (CFA) of vein angels were significantly higher in sugar-feeding than in honey-feeding colonies.