Question

Assertion : The honey bee queen copulates only once in her life time.

Reason : The honey bee queen can lay fertilized as well as unfertilized eggs.

(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A

(b) Both A and R are true but R is not correct explanation of A

(c) A is true but R is false

(d) A and R are false

Answer 1

Correct option (b) Both A and R are true but R is not correct explanation of A

Explanation :

Queen is the only fertile female in beehive, having immensely developed ovaries. She lives for several successive years laying about 2000 or more eggs a day and upto about 1,500000 eggs during her life time. The queen has a remarkable capacity of controlling the fertilization of its eggs. A fertilized egg is laid in a worker or queen cell or honey comb, while an unfertilized egg in a drone cell, the latter develops parthenogenetically. The queen mates only once in a Life time. The sperms stored in her spermatheca fertilize her eggs as long as she lives.