Haplodiploid Sex Determination in Honeybees — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2026The sex determination in honey bee is based on the number of sets of chromosomes an individual receives. An offspring formed from the union of a sperm and an egg develops as a female (queen or worker), and an unfertilised egg develops as a male (drone) by means of parthenogenesis. This means that the males have half the number of chromosomes than that of a female. The females are diploid having 32 chromosomes and males are haploid, i.e., having 16 chromosomes. This is called as haplodiploid sex-determination system and has special characteristic features such as the males produce sperms by mitosis, they do not have father and thus cannot have sons, but have a grandfather and can have grandsons.
NTA tests whether students understand that in honeybees, females develop from fertilized eggs (diploid, 32 chromosomes) while males develop from unfertilized eggs (haploid, 16 chromosomes) through parthenogenesis. Students often mistakenly think males have a father or that sperm production involves meiosis, but males actually produce sperm by mitosis. The key to remember: males have no father, cannot have sons, but can have grandsons because their daughters (from fertilized eggs) carry their genes. This haplodiploid system is unique and frequently tested because it challenges conventional understanding of sex determination and chromosome number relationships.
This paragraph was tested 2 times in NEET.
Which of the following statements are true with reference to sex-determination in honeybees? A. Offspring from sperm + egg develops as female. B. Unfertilised egg develops as male by parthenogenesis. C. Male has half chromosome number of female. D. Males produce sperms by meiosis. E. Honeybees show haplodiploid sex-determination.
In which animal do haploid cells divide mitotically to produce gametes?
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.