The member of the hive
Drones
Drones are the bee that exists only to mate with the queen of the other hive.
It's bigger than the worker bees, and the beehive rooms , where the drones grow, is also bigger than the worker bees. Besides, they have big eyes so that they could see the queen bee from the distance.
The work of the drones
The male bee does not have something to do like a worker bee, so it usually lives loitering around in its nest, nibbling for food to the worker bees.
In addition, to find mating partners, they go out every day in search of new queen bees. And the drones gather in places where the new queen bee still unmated outside the nest, is supposed to come anc wait.
When they find the queen bee, they hunt desperately. Only the those can catch up with the queen bee can mate. As soon as they mate, they will die immediately.
The drones, who can't mate, go back in and do it again until they mate. In fall, the drones that only eat food are worthless so they are driven out of the nest by the worker bees, and they die because they cannot live themselves.
References
『ミツバチの教科書(原題 The Bee Book)』 エクスナレッジ 、2017年
Rowan Jacobsen 『蜂はなぜ大量死したのか(原題 Fruitless Fall)』 文芸春秋、2009年
久志冨士男 『ニホンミツバチが日本の農業を救う』 高文研、2009年
一般社団法人 日本養蜂協会 ホームページhttp://www.beekeeping.or.jp/