Date of Award:

5-1-1964

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Department name when degree awarded

Entomology

Committee Chair(s)

D. W. Davis

Committee

D. W. Davis

Committee

D. M. Hammond

Committee

Orson S. Cannon

Abstract

Many solitary bees develop through the egg and larval feeding stages in a week or two and then enter a quiescent prepupal peri od lasting through the winter months. When diapause is broken, development proceeds to the pupal stage in which sex can be determined easily. In contrast, sex differentiation is not obvious in the earlier stages. Michaelis (1900) studied the postembryonic development of the genital organs in fixed specimens of honey bee larvae (Apis mellifera Linn.). This study was extended by Zander (1900) to include larvae of the genera Vespa and Bombus. Although neither of these authors was primarily concerned with the use of genitalic rudiments for distinguishing the sexes of bees, Michaelis' descriptions of developing organs in the honey bee demonstrated that sex differentiation was possible in this species. Zander (1916) presented drawings clearly showing a characteristic male invagination on the 12th sternite. Apparently information contained in these articles was not generally known and those who did know about it failed to see its usefulness in diagnosing sex in bee larvae.

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