Abstract:
SIGNIFICANCE: • The laying workers of the Cape honey bee continue to negatively affect the South African beekeeping
industry, with more losses suffered in the northern regions of the country.
• The reproductive parasites enter susceptible host colonies, activate their ovaries, and lay diploid eggs,
leading to colony dwindling and collapse.
• Diploidy in eggs produced by unmated laying workers arises from thelytokous parthenogenesis, first
discovered in honey bees by a hobbyist beekeeper.
• We examine the consequences of thelytokous parthenogenesis and outline what is being done to
understand and limit the spread of the laying workers of the Cape honey bee.
