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🧬 Honeybee Genetics: Polyandry, Breeding, Inbreeding Risk

The haplodiploid genetic system of honeybees, why queens mate with many drones, how breeders select for traits like Varroa resistance, and the inbreeding risks of diploid males.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DModerate60 FPS

A queen's single mating flight fixes the genetic makeup of her whole colony for years: this scene tiles worker brood cells by patriline, lets diploid-male losses appear as empty "shot brood," and simulates selective breeding for a chosen trait across generations.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Haplodiploid sex determination, why polyandry (mating with many drones) boosts colony genetic diversity, and how mating with related drones raises the diploid-male death rate via the single-locus csd sex gene.

🎮 How to Use

Set how many drones the queen mated with and how related those drones are, pick a trait breeders are selecting for, set the selection pressure, then click "Breed next generation" and watch the trait-carrier fraction shift.

💡 Did You Know?

Because drones are haploid, every one of a drone's daughters gets an identical copy of his genome — full sisters within a single patriline share about 75% of their genes, unusually close for animal siblings.

⚙ Under the hood

An interactive 3D honeycomb where each brood cell is colored by patriline from a polyandrous queen's mates, empty cells represent diploid-male losses from inbreeding, and a "breed next generation" control simulates selection for a chosen trait.

geneticsbreedinghaplodiploidyinbreedingbee-biology

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