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🧬 Haplodiploidy: How Chromosomes Decide Whether a Bee Is Male or Female

Honey bees do not use X and Y chromosomes. A look at haplodiploid sex determination, the csd gene, diploid drones, and why it made bees so cooperative in the first place.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DModerate60 FPS

A queen bee lays eggs into a honeycomb, and the chromosome count of each egg — not an X or Y chromosome — decides whether it becomes a drone, a worker, or an unviable diploid drone.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Unfertilized eggs are haploid and become drones; fertilized eggs are diploid and normally become females — unless both copies of the csd gene happen to match, in which case the larva develops as a diploid drone and is removed by workers.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the fertilization rate and the number of csd alleles circulating in the colony, then watch the comb fill with color-coded eggs and the karyotype panel update with each new egg laid.

💡 Did You Know?

In small or inbred honey bee populations with few csd alleles, diploid-drone eggs can make up a large share of fertilized eggs — a major reason breeders track genetic diversity carefully.

⚙ Under the hood

A 3D queen bee lays eggs cell-by-cell into a honeycomb; each egg's fertilization status and csd-gene match live-determine whether it becomes a drone, a worker/queen, or a culled diploid drone, mirrored by an animated 3D chromosome (karyotype) diagram.

haplodiploidybee-geneticssex-determinationcsd-genechromosomeskin-selection

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install