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Drone congregation areas[edit]

Mating between the drones and a virgin queen takes place away from the colony, in mid-air mating sites. These mating sites, called ‘congregation areas’, are specific ********s, where drones wait for the arrival of virgin queens to mate with. A congregation area is typically 10-40 meters above ground, and can have a diameter of 30-200 meters. The boundaries of a congregation area are distinct- queens flying a few meters outside the boundaries are mostly ignored by the drones. Congregation areas are typically used year after year, with some spots showing little change over 12 years. Since drones are expelled from a colony during the winter, and new drones are raised each spring, inexperienced drones must find these congregation areas anew. This suggests that there are some environmental cues that define a congregation area, although the actual cues are unknown. Congregation areas are typically located above open ground, away from trees or hills, where flight is somewhat protected from the wind (calm winds may be helpful during mating flight). At the same time, many congregation areas do not show such characteristics, such as those located above water or the forest canopy. Some studies have suggested that magnetic orientation could play a role, since drones older than 6 days contain cells in the abdomen that are rich in magnetite