Drones Do Not Drift between Nests in a Wild Population of Apis cerana

Abstract

The modes through which individuals disperse prior to reproduction has important consequences for gene flow in populations. In honey bees (Apis sp.), drones (males) reproduce within a short flight range of their natal nest, leaving and returning each afternoon within a narrow mating window. Drones are assumed to return to their natal nests as they depend on workers to feed them. However, in apiaries, drones are reported to regularly make navigation errors and return to a non-natal nest, where they are accepted and fed by unrelated workers. If such a “drone drift” occurred in wild populations, it could facilitate some further degree of dispersal for males, particularly if drones drift into host nests some distance away from their natal nest. Here, we investigated whether drone drift occurs in an invasive population of the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana). Based on the genotypes of 1462 drones from 19 colonies, we found only a single drone that could be considered a candidate drifter (~0.07%). In three other colonies, drones whose genotypes differed from the inferred queen were best explained by recent queen turnover or worker-laying. We concluded that drone drift in this population is low at best, and A. cerana drones either rarely make navigation errors in wild populations or are not accepted into foreign nests when they do so. We therefore confirm that drone dispersal distance is limited to the distance of daily drone flights from natal nests, a key assumption of both colony density estimates based on sampling of drone congregation areas and population genetic models of gene flow in honey bees.