Glossary

A dearth is a period of time when flowers in a given region are not producing much nectar (in the case of a nectar dearth) or pollen (in the case of a pollen dearth).

Diploid organisms have paired sets of chromosomes in each cell (excluding sperm and egg cells). They inherit one set of chromosomes from their mother and one from their father. Female honey bees (both queens and workers) are diploid, because they develop from eggs that are fertilized (by sperm) and therefore contain two sets of chromosomes; in contrast, drones are haploid. See also haplodiploid.

DNA is the long molecule that carries an organism’s complete set of genetic information.

A method of queen rearing where larvae is grafted and placed into artificial cups. These cups are then inserted into colonies that have been prepared in advance to readily rear queens.

Drift is the entering of bees into hives or nests that are not their homes. It is more likely when hives are close together and difficult to distinguish from one another. Hives at the end of a row of hives may contain a lot of drifting bees.

A drone is a male honey bee.

Drone comb is specialized brood cells where unfertilized eggs are laid and reared into drones. The cell size is slightly–but obviously–bigger than that of worker comb and it is often built on the margins of frames.

A drone congregation area is where hundreds of drones congregate high in the air to wait for a virgin queen on her mating flight.

A drone mother colony is the colony that contains the drones that will be used to inseminate queens for queen rearing. The drone mother colony is usually chosen based on specific criteria. Frames of drone comb foundation are often placed in these colonies to rear a maximum amount of drones to saturate a drone congregation area.

The Dufour’s gland is located at the end of the abdomen in female bees and releases pheromones through the vagina. In the queen, these pheromones have a similar role to queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), serving as a signal of her fertility and promoting retinue behavior. When a colony loses its queen, laying workers may start producing their own queen-like fertility pheromones from their Dufour’s glands.

Dysentery is honey bee diarrhea, which may be visible inside or outside of the hive. It is caused by the buildup of solids in the digestive tract, and can relate to infections.