Scientists have discovered a half male, half female bee.
This condition is known as gynandromorphism.
On its left side, the bee is male. It has a small, dainty mandible, a long antenna, and a thin, delicate hind leg with fewer bristles.
The right side has female characteristics – a shorter antenna, a pronounced, toothed mandible, and a thick, hairy hind leg..It’s a little known fact that – gynandromorphs have been found in at least 140 bee species, as well as butterflies, birds and crustaceans.
In bees, it’s usually only seen after the insects are already dead..
In this case, researchers led by Erin Krichilsky of Cornell University found the bee living in the forest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama.
This was a stroke of luck – because studying gynandromorphic bees that are still alive could help us learn a lot about these fascinating insects.
39 Responses
Weird!
That was cool
When bees sting you they die, but not wasps.
half boy, half girl? WIERD
This is wierd
That was the weirdest thing I ever heard about
i think it is very weird and cool i hope i can find a bee like this!
I have been stung by a bee before.
this article is strange but cool.
that is very disgusting and weird
wait, does it mean scene the bee is half male and half female if one side dies does the other side live? If it does then eww
does the stinger change?
that is a long word
This new bee was probably improperly bred by its parents. Maybe they had a such issue with them that they somehow made a mutated bee with half genders. Or it there was something going on with the female bee that couldn’t quite assume that the newborn baby bee was a female or a male, and since it was probably damaged, it made some sort of mutation.
so thats so werid i have never ever heard about that
Weird and Cool!
this i sooooo weird
how can a bee be half male and half female?
wow that sounds cool!
WOAH!
That is so funny and wreid.
Wow.
That is weird and cool! I have never heard of that before.
It’s weird that so many bees have got it. 🙂
Finnaly a bee version of me…. ?
I think that’s cool and it helps the bee to “bee” even more unique. Get it?
Wow that is interesting
Thats Crazy!!
amazing
OMG!!!! THIS IS SOOOO COOL
werd
That is so weird
that is very weird
that’s weird!!
the picture does not show much only the head
Lmao
This is so interesting
OK that is weird?
How does that work? Would you be able to do it with humans! That would be absolutely amazing and weird at the same time!!!!
thats really weird wow!
wow!
Awesome