Me "Can you select for longevity by allowing queens to live their 
naturally alloted span rather than replacing them every x years?"

Peter "No, we are talking about worker lifespan here."

Me: Why do you think that a tendancy towards relative longevity can't 
be passed genetically mother to daughter?  It works in humans!  If a 
strain of bees averaged a life span only a few days longer than normal, 
this could increase the colony's foraging ability by a large 
percentage, the extra time being at the foraging stage.  Possibly, as 
part of the same trend, they would need fewer workers to provide for 
their needs and thus have less mouths to feed, enabling a decent 
surplus to be accrued.

Chris

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