re: castes
However, Brian Johnson limits the worker castes to two:
The results
support there being two castes of within-nest bees. Young
bees specialized on brood care tasks, while middle-aged
bees specialized on nectar processing and nest maintenance.
Middle-aged bees were observed caring for brood in less
than 1% of the observations. Moreover, both castes
exhibited movement patterns that correspond to the
traditional view that nurses stay within the broodnest, while
middle-aged bees move around a great deal in search of
work throughout the nest.
Within-nest temporal polyethism in the honey bee
Brian R. Johnson, Behav Ecol Sociobiol (2008) 62:777–784
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