> So full fertility and a nonsuicidal stinger would seem to be the evolutionary default.

And this can be observed today in non-honey bee colonies. In Bombus, the queen raises little workers, which she deliberately stunts. As the season progresses, larger workers and finally males and queens are raised. In species which have evolved further on the path, there is further distinction, even to the extent where we see "castes" which are not simply stunted versions of the reproductives, but specialized in some way. 

Whereas, Bombus queens can perform all the functions of raising a family, just like solitary bees, complex social insects like honey bees and ants cannot exist apart from their colonies. Hence the concept of superorganism. This is not simply an aggregation of like individuals but a complex system of codependency. The phenotype of the honey bee consists of all the variations. 

However, the idea that these variations are "caused" by the amount of food that is fed, has been eclipsed by a more interesting explanation. There are various developmental switches that can be turned on or off, leading to the differential expression of the genomes which the various nestmates have in common. Which leads to another question: how much of the behavior of a colony is hard wired into the genome and how much is passed on through other pathways. 

PLB

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