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National Park (Phase 1)","award":["GIABR-gjrc201702"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GIABR-gjrc201702"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["2022GDASZH-2022010102"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022GDASZH-2022010102"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["2022GDASZH-2022010106"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022GDASZH-2022010106"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["32000347"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32000347"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["2022-440000-4301030211-9465"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022-440000-4301030211-9465"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["202103000009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202103000009"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["LC-2021124"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LC-2021124"]}]},{"name":"Talent Project of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources","award":["GIABR-gjrc201702"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GIABR-gjrc201702"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The growth and development of honeybees are influenced by many factors, one of which is the cell size of the brood comb. Larger worker bees can be obtained by being raised in bigger cells. However, whether cell size has the same effect on drone development is still unknown. Here, using 3D-printed foundations, we observed the development of drones kept in comb cells of different sizes from the late larval stage through eclosion. The results showed that drones in larger cell-size combs had heavier body weights, longer body lengths, and larger head widths, thorax widths, and abdomen widths compared to those in smaller cell-size combs. Furthermore, regardless of developmental stages, the drones\u2019 body weights increased linearly with the comb\u2019s cell size. However, the other morphological changes of drones in different developmental stages were out of proportion to the cell-size changes, resulting in smaller cells with a higher fill factor (thorax width\/cell width). Our findings confirm that comb cell size affects the development of honeybees; drones become bigger when raised in large cells.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life14020222","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]],"date-time":"2024-02-05T05:22:44Z","timestamp":1707110564000},"page":"222","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The Effect of Comb Cell Size on the Development of Apis mellifera Drones"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Lifu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China"},{"name":"Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linxin","family":"Shao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China"},{"name":"College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Fahad","family":"Raza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Richou","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8819-6009","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenfeng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.15421\/012003","article-title":"Morphological variation of Varroa destructor (Parasitiformes, Varroidae) in different seasons","volume":"28","author":"Sobolta","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biosyst. Divers."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7704","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-26001-7","article-title":"Rapid parallel evolution overcomes global honey bee parasite","volume":"8","author":"Oddie","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1038\/s41576-020-0216-1","article-title":"Improving bee health through genomics","volume":"21","author":"Grozinger","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Genet."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolind.2017.04.001","article-title":"Indicators of ecosystem potential for pollination and honey production","volume":"94","author":"Affek","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ecol. Indic."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1080\/0005772X.1934.11093286","article-title":"The influence of cell size","volume":"15","author":"Baudoux","year":"1934","journal-title":"Bee World"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1080\/0005772X.1934.11093329","article-title":"The \u201cPensieri\u201d comb","volume":"15","author":"Pensieri","year":"1934","journal-title":"Bee World"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1093\/jee\/30.2.345","article-title":"The influence of size of brood cell upon the size and variability of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)","volume":"30","author":"Grout","year":"1937","journal-title":"J. Econ. Entomol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"665","DOI":"10.1051\/apido:2006041","article-title":"The influence of small-cell brood combs on the morphometry of honeybees (Apis mellifera)","volume":"37","author":"McMullan","year":"2006","journal-title":"Apidologie"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"5","article-title":"The effect of cell size on weight of workers of Apis cerana","volume":"39","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Bee."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.5109\/4103891","article-title":"Impact of different comb age on morphological and biological characteristics of honeybee workers (Apis mellifera L.)","volume":"65","author":"Shawer","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Fac. Agric. 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Acarol."}],"container-title":["Life"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-1729\/14\/2\/222\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T13:54:37Z","timestamp":1760104477000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-1729\/14\/2\/222"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,4]]},"references-count":40,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2]]}},"alternative-id":["life14020222"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/life14020222","relation":{},"ISSN":["2075-1729"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2075-1729","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,4]]}}}