Histomorphological description of the reproductive system in mated honey bee queens

Abstract

The accelerating decline of pollinator populations has become increasingly concerning in the last two decades. Honey bees are economically important pollinators and a model species to evaluate pollinator health. The decline in queen quality is one of the frequently reported causes associated with honey bee losses worldwide. Histopathology is an essential tool used for diagnostics and research in mammalian species and may provide insight into the histomorphological basis of a decline in queen quality. Thus, the purpose of this study was to summarize the previously described normal morphology of the entire reproductive tract of mated honey bee queens and to illustrate it by high quality photomicrographs. Accordingly, reproductive tracts of one-year old mated honey bee queens were processed for histology, serially sectioned, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and used for the capture of high quality histological photomicrographs of the entire reproductive tract. This study illustrates the microscopic morphology of the queen reproductive tract which may facilitate further investigations of the cause and pathogenesis of the recent decline in reproductive fitness of honey bees using histopathology. (Figure presented.).