Which is the most promiscuous female insect of all? BBC Earth reveals in ‘The insect that loves having sex‘ that the female honeybee queen mates with the most males, neatly knocking the female cobalt milkweed beetle off the throne:

“The European honey bee was found to mate up to 20 times and the Asiatic honey bee up to 30 times. However Cabrera-Mireles determined that the Apis dorsata, the giant honey bee of South and Southeast Asia, was the most polyandrous of all, with one DNA fingerprinting studying determining that females had up to 53 mates.

The female cobalt milkweed beetle has been recorded mating up to 60 times, but was disqualified by Cabrera-Mireles because this figure included multiple matings with the same male.”

For incredible footage on the honeybee queen watch this clip from More than honey.

Read more on BBC Earth ‘The insect that loves having sex‘. Story sent by Andy Pedley.