Studies in the Mode of Action of Royal Jelly in Honeybee Development V. the Influence of Diet on Ovary Development

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Abstract
Early reproductive development, as indicated by ovary volume and number of ovarioles, was examined in honeybee larvae reared in the colony and in the laboratory. In larvae reared in their natural environment, no morphological divergence in ovary development was observed during the three-day critical, bipotent period. After 84 hours ovary growth in the queen was very rapid, but that of the worker limited. In laboratory-reared larvae, ovary development was quite sensitive to alterations in the sugar and water-soluble acid concentrations of the diet. The effect of dietary changes varied with larval age. Changes in the various parameters of larval development induced by altering the diet—general body growth, and volume of the ovary and corpus allatum—were unco-ordinated, suggesting that dietary components in addition to those tested are involved in caste determination, but that no single factor is decisive. The role of the corpus allatum in mediating between diet and reproductive development remains undefined. The data are relevant to the question of chronological and physiological age in larvae removed from their natural environment.