Honeybees produce their young ones by sexual reproduction. Inspite of this, in a colony of bees we find both haploid and diploid individuals. Name the haploid and diploid individuals in the colony and analyse the reasons behind their formation.

Explanation

(i)Sterile diploid females as workers
(ii) One fertile diploid female as queen
(iii) Fertile haploid males as drones.
In case of honeybees, both haploid and diploid individuals formed as a result of incomplete (cyclic) parthenogenesis, i.e., both sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis. Fertilised eggs (zygote) give rise to queen and workers (both are females) by the process of sexual reproduction and unfertilised eggs (ova) develop into drones (males) by the process of parthenogenesis.