Long-Chain Fatty Acids in Honeybees in Relation to Sex, Caste, and Food During Development

SummaryThe fatty acid composition of the lipids in the honeybee were determined by gas-liquid chromatography. Larvae, pupae and newly emerged adults of the worker, drone and queen were studied, and determinations were also made on excreta, royal jelly, and samples of mixed bee-collected pollen. In pollen 14 acids were determined, in royal jelly 15, and in the bees 8–9. Oleic (C-18: 1) was the predominant acid in all samples, constituting more than 60% of the total in adults, 40% in larvae and 58 % in queen pupae. The fatty acid composition of the pollen was not closely correlated with that of the bees themselves.