> I'm not certain I understand a scenario where the queen *doesn't *sacrifice herself in supersedure. 

One could argue that in swarming, the queen permits supersedure without sacrificing herself. Conversely, it is known that sometimes swarm cells are produced, the hive doesn't swarm, and the queen gets replaced. 

The real question, which in my view is unanswerable, is whether these actions are simply reflexive or not. For example, a song bird has little or no choice of the melody it sings; a robin sings a robin song. 

I don't like mechanistic models for honey bee behavior but it *can be* modeled mechanistically; ie., the honey bee colony as a machine. I prefer to view the colony as the expanded phenotype of the queen in which all activities flow from her reproductive state. 

She may raise daughter queens instinctively and the colony may respond either by swarming or not, depending on environmental conditions. Reproductive behavior appears hard wired in most species, including humans. Swarming, on the other hand, is extremely complex and not automatic.

PLB

             ***********************************************
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