Environmental Influences in Sex Determination in the Hymenoptera

Abstract

MOST Hymenoptera reproduce by arrenotoky (unfertilized eggs giving rise to males and fertilized eggs to females), but some species reproduce by thelytoky (unfertilized eggs producing females, males being generally absent), and other species by deuterotoky (unfertilized eggs producing both males and females). With rare exceptions, males are haploid and females diploid irrespective of the mode of reproduction, though haploidy and diploidy are not necessarily sex determining in themselves, as it is known in a few species that sex determination depends on multiple sex alleles.