Bombus impatiens colony microsatellite genotype data for mating frequency analysis

The genus Bombus (bumble bees) includes approximately 265 species, many of which are in decline in North America and Europe. To estimate the colony abundance of bumble bees in natural and agricultural habitats, sibship relationships are often reconstructed from genetic data with the assumption that colonies have one monandrous queen. However, some species such as the North American common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens Cresson) can display low levels of polyandry, which may bias estimates of colony abundance based on monandrous sibship reconstructions. To accurately quantify rates of polyandry in wild and commercially mated queens of this species, we empirically estimated mating frequencies using a novel statistical model and genotypes from 730 bees. To genotype individuals, we used a highly polymorphic set of microsatellites on colonies established from 20 wild-caught gynes and 10 commercial colonies. We found multiple fathers in three of the wild colonies and three of the commer..., Specimen Collection and Rearing
 

Wild B. impatiens gynes were collected between April and May of 2018 from three locations in Pennsylvania, USA: University Park, Newport, and Landisville. Twenty colonies established from these wild-caught gynes were then reared following standard protocols (Treanore et al. 2021). Colonies were held in a walk-in incubator under constant darkness, at  28–30 ºC, 60% RH, and supplied ad libitum with a 60% sucrose solution and honey bee-collected pollen. Colony maintenance and offspring collection were performed under red light. To quantify mating frequencies in wild colonies, we collected the first 10 emerging workers, and if possible, 10 additional workers approximately 3-4 weeks after to capture any differences in paternity in the later emerging workers. The queen was removed and frozen along with the rest of the workers after collections of the second cohort. Additional bees with unknown emergence dates were also collected for a total of 13-32 bees per..., , # Data from: *Bombus impatiens* colony microsatellite genotype data for mating frequency analysis

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrzk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrzk)

To accurately quantify rates of polyandry in wild and commercially mated queens of *Bombus impatiens*, the common eastern bumblebee, we empirically estimated mating frequencies using a novel statistical model and genotypes from 730 bees. To genotype individuals, we used a highly polymorphic set of microsatellites on colonies established from 20 wild-caught gynes and 10 commercial colonies. We found multiple fathers in three of the wild colonies and three of the commercial colonies. This resulted in average effective mating frequencies of 1.075 ± 0.18 and 1.154 ± 0.25 for wild and commercial colonies, respectively. These findings agree with previous reports of low rates of polyandry for *B. impatiens*. Using a large empirical dataset, we demonstrate that assuming monandry for colony abundance estimation in s...