Interesting research recently shared on Beesource explores the behavior and physiological development of laying workers: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8 The best take-way summary from the paper IMHO is as follows: 'Rebels develop in the absence of a queen or, more precisely, in the absence of the queen’s mandibular gland pheromones (Woyciechowski and Kuszewska 2012<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR46>; Woyciechowski et al. 2017<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR48>). Naturally, such individuals occur after swarming, which is the only natural means of colony multiplication (Winston 1987<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR45>). The ultimate factor explaining the rebel strategy is based on the assumption of inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton 1964<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR15>) and results from a dramatic decrease in relatedness between the old queen’s workers and the new sister queen’s offspring after swarming (Woyciechowski and Kuszewska 2012<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR46>). The high reproductive potential of rebel workers and their tendency to activate ovaries, even in queenright colonies, influences their behaviour and increases the possibility that they will drift to foreign colonies to lay unfertilized eggs. Indeed, rebels are more likely than normal workers not only to drift to foreign colonies but also to prefer colonies that are queenless (Kuszewska et al. 2018<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00854-8#ref-CR20>). These findings shed new light on intraspecific reproductive parasitism in honeybees; however, the mechanism underlying this strategy is not fully understood.' *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
