Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Morphometric variables of the sperm measured by the Sperm Class Analyzer and manually
| Staining technique | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eosin- nigrosin | Sperm Stain | SpermBlue | Complex of eosin and gentian violet | Complex of eosin and gentian violet | Live/dead dual fluorescent staining method | Live/dead dual fluorescent staining method | Bengal rose stain | Bengal rose stain | Haematoxylin and eosin | |
| Morphometric parameter | ||||||||||
| Notes (reference) | ||||||||||
| Season beginning, June (19) | Season end, August (19) | Large and small drone serum sampled from queenright (14) | Laying worker colonies (14) | Brazil, rainy season (36) | Brazil, dry season (36) | (42) | ||||
| Acrosome length (μm) | 3.74a ± 0.61 | 3.59b ± 0.45 | - | 4.73 ± 0.32 | 4.66 ± 0.32 | - | - | - | - | 3.58 ± 1.21 |
| Nucleus length (μm) | 4.25a ± 0.37 | 4.06b ± 0.23 | - | 4.78 ± 0.25 | 4.69 ± 0.25 | - | - | - | - | 4.44 ± 0.61 |
| Head length (μm) | 8.08a ± 0.40 | 7.85b ± 0.29 | 7.71b ± 0.53 | 9.43 ± 0.38 | 9.35 ± 0.39 | - | - | 9.48 ± 0.10 | 9.24 ± 0.10 | 7.85 ± 0.65 |
| Midpiece length (μm) | 30.63 ± 0.87 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Flagellum length (μm) | 204.31 ± 10.12 | 226.16* ± 9.53 | 221.56* ± 11.29 | 264.07* ± 16.57 | 248.62* ± 16.38 | - | - | 253.47 ± 1.20 | 242.99 ± 4.00 | 222.96 ± 17.15 |
| Total length (μm) | 242.59a ± 11.54 | 232.33a ± 11.01 | 226.56a ± 12.03 | 273.50 ± 16.58 | 257.97 ± 16.37 | 242.0 ± 0.65 | 241.4 ± 0.34 | 262.92 ± 1.20 | 252.24 ± 4.10 | 230.81 ± 17.22 |