Drone Bees: Fatal Attraction
When bees mate, it’s the last thing they’ll ever do. If they find a queen to mate with, he’ll do so in a way that the result is fatal. In this courtship ritual, he’ll ejaculate with an explosive pop, rupture his endophallus, paralyze himself, and then die as part of his endophallus sticks to the queen. The queen then holds onto his semen for later use. The next male to mate with the queen rips away the previous endophallus and the process starts over. Even if the male manages to survive, he’s rejected by his nest. He’s fulfilled his one purpose and is not needed any longer. The queen can store up to 100 million sperm (Orkin).