Pic of spermatheca of a mated Queen Bee.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

This queen died last winter as well as her bees, having a small cluster, to small to keep warm.  So the question of why a small cluster arose.  Is this a mated queen, can she lay brood, or was the beehive weakened by mites the previous Fall?  So I examined the spermatheca.  A clear spermatheca is a sign of an unmated  queen whereas a milk colored spermatheca as in pic is a sure sigh of a mated queen.  So I determined the hive was weakened by mites the previous Fall, resulting in a small winter cluster.  My best guess anyway, the fact remains unsure.

I?ll try to post pic that is resized to 600 by resizeit as suggested by Jim.

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The small white circle placed on the queen is the spermatheca, easy to remove.  It looks like a small pearl and holds ten microliter, 10ul.

[beepro]

Can a queen that died so long ago still be able to do an accurate autopsy?

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Beepro, the necropsy was done last March, sorry I did not mention the fact.  Apparently the queen died in late February or early March,,,,, just before the exam.  There was no mold, it was that short of a time span, between hive winter dead out and my discover.
Blessings

[Acebird]

Beekeepers must pay attention to critical mass.  When a hive dwindles below critical mass it means for some reason the colony was unable to make enough winter bees to make it through.  This can be the pressure of mites, lack of nutrition, robbing of resources, poorly mated queen, or all of the above.

[Hops Brewster]

cool pic Van!

Thanks for posting it

[The15thMember]

So cool, Van!  How did you remove it and do such little damage to the queen? 

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Hi Member: to answer your question, first the spermatheca has a tough membrane that is not easily punctured.  The last two segments of the abdomen are cut open with a sharp manicure type scissors.  Keep the blade, scissors, close to the upper portion of the abdomen as the spermatheca and oviduct lay on the bottom of the abdomen.  Did I make this clear?

[The15thMember]

Hi Member: to answer your question, first the spermatheca has a tough membrane that is not easily punctured.  The last two segments of the abdomen are cut open with a sharp manicure type scissors.  Keep the blade, scissors, close to the upper portion of the abdomen as the spermatheca and oviduct lay on the bottom of the abdomen.  Did I make this clear?

Yes, that totally makes sense.  This is something I might try in the future, if only for the academic intrigue.