Note on Behavior of Gynandroniorphic Honey Bees, Apis mellifera1,3

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Abstract
There are 2 dubious accounts in the apicultural literature (Milling 1882, Freyhoff 1903) that refer to the collection of pollen by drone honey bees. Normal drones do not have the appropriate anatomy for this task. These so-called drones may actually have been “drone flies” (Diptera: Syrphidae), or a species of bee resembling a honey bee drone, or they may have been gynandromorphic honey bees. Sakagami and Takahashi (1956) observed pollen collection by gynandromorphs, and published a photograph showing one such bee with pollen on its worker hind leg; the other hind leg had no corbiculum. They also observed various other workerlike behavior characteristics in gynandromorphs, even among individuals with dronelike heads.

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