Peter L Borst wrote:

>Therefore, subfamilies could develop within the colony based upon which
>drones are present in the queen, but then certain subfamilies could assert
>domination by eating competitor's eggs and preferentially raising their own
>kin.

This concept is disputed in the following study

Polyandry in honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) leads to many subfamilies
within a colony. Nepotism is expected to occur under these circumstances
since honeybee workers can increase their inclusive fitness by favoring
full-sisters over half-sisters. The potential benefits of nepotism to
workers may be most apparent in queen rearing in which workers can readily
influence the genetic composition of the next generation. To determine
whether the kin-selected nepotism hypothesis could explain queen rearing,
observations were made on the care behavior exhibited by workers toward
queen larvae in 4 colonies, and patrilines were identified using DNA
microsatellite markers. We observed 521 worker visitation behaviors directed
towards queen larvae during 101 h of observation. Care behaviors were found
to occur independently of the genetic relatedness between nurse bees and
nursed queen larvae. We therefore suggest that the kin-selected nepotism
hypothesis cannot explain queen rearing.

Our results are essentially consistent with
those of Mohammedi and Le Conte (2000), who
found no evidence of nepotism in queen rearing in
their experimental colonies in either spring or winter.
Our study supports previous findings that nepotism
in queen rearing is probably absent or weakly
expressed (Tarpy et al., 2004).

Rearing of candidate queens by honeybee, Apis mellifera, workers
(Hymenoptera: Apidae) is independent of genetic relatedness
Satoshi KOYAMA, et al
Applied Entomology and Zoology
Vol. 42 (2007) , No. 4 541-547

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