Work on worker recognition of larvae was done in the 1980s by Page,
Erickson, and Visscher

> Apis mellifera workers are able to discriminate the degree of relatedness to themselves of larvae and to preferentially rear queens from related larvae. They employ cues of genetic, not environmental origin, and workers which have only experienced unrelated brood nonetheless prefer related (but novel) over unrelated (but familiar) larvae. Thus worker bees possess the sensory capabilities and behavioral responses that would enable them to maximize their individual inclusive fitness through nepotism in queen rearing.  These experiments demonstrate an ability of worker honey bees to discriminate, using genetically-correlated, probably olfactory cues, between larvae

Kinship discrimination in queen rearing by honey bees (Apis mellifera)
by P. Kirk Visscher
Behav Ecol Sociobiol (1986) 18:453~460

More recent work tends to dispute the earlier findings

> The true degree of kin bias and the reason that it remains weak deserve further experimental examination. It may be that the low efficiency of nepotism reflects limitations on the discrimination ability of bees due to a paucity of cues or ambiguity of cues present in larvae which are used to glean kinship information (Visscher, 1986; Ratnieks, 1991). Indeed, it seems remarkable that there is any information at all that bees could use to make kinship judgments of newly hatched larvae, especially since the most likely mechanism they use is a learned reference of their own odors as adults. Interestingly, as pointed out by Page and Erickson (1984), lack of discrimination against non-nestmate larvae is one of the foundations of commercial queen rearing, but there royal jelly is usually used.

Colony integration and reproductive conflict in honey bees by P.K. Visscher
Apidologie (1998) Vol. 29 No. 1-2

> Even though hymenopteran workers are related more to full-sisters than to half-sisters, there is little evidence that full-sisters are favored. Possible nepotism in queen rearing has been looked for in the honey bee in all stages of queen rearing, from eggs and larvae to young adult queens, and the consensus is that it is weak or nonexistent. As with the honey bee, most studies of ant, wasp, or stingless bee societies headed by multiple queens have failed to find nepotism.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN INSECT SOCIETIES by Francis L.W. Ratnieks, et al
Annu. Rev. Entomol. (2006)  51:581-608.

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