In some eusocial species, such as honeybees, sex determination occurs via haplod

Question

In some eusocial species, such as honeybees, sex determination occurs via haplodiploid. As shown in the diagram, male drones develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid, while queens and female workers develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid. Workers don't produce any offspring of their own, they instead help out in the hive, raising the queen's offspring, collecting pollen and nectar, and defending the hive. Assuming all the bees in a hive come from one male/female pair, what is the coefficient of relatedness (r) between the female workers in a hive?

Explanation / Answer

Assuming queen mated to only one drone, then all her daughters will share 50% genes from the father( haploid father) but 25% of their genes from the mother(diploid mother).

Formula for Coefficient of relatedness (r)= Proper Mother X Shared Mother + Proper father X Shared Father

Haploid males only have one set of alleles. Hence their daughters all receive the same set of alleles from the father and are then automatically related by 0.5 through the father. Their mother has two sets of alleles and so the daughters are related by 0.25 through the mother.

The coefficient of relatedness(r) between the female workers will be 0.5 x 0.5 + 1 x 0.5 = 0.75

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