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SummaryHeritability of longevity or length of life of worker honeybees (Apis mellifera) was estimated from the variance components of half-sib families. Measurements were made of the life-spans of worker progeny from 27 free-mated queens which were the daughters of 6 queens. The heritability of length of life-span was estimated to be 0·196 ± 0·024. Selection for longer life, therefore, appears feasible and a correlated increase in colony honey production, depending upon the magnitude of the genetic correlation between these two traits, should also be possible.
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Charles P. Milne (1985) studied this question.
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