The merging of colonies of eusocial insects is pretty rare. The function of a colony is to propagate a familial line, so there is little biological imperative for workers to care for the young of another colony's queen. In fact, when colony merging was discovered among Argentine ants invading southern California, it was heralded as a major event. The researchers pointed out that such merging was not seen in the ants living in Argentina and attributed this new phenomenon to a drastic reduction in genetic diversity in the invasive population. Be that as it may, what has been seen among honey bees in Arizona and elsewhere where Africanized bees have invaded, is not the merging of colonies for mutual benefit. It is the phenomenon called nest usurpation whereby one colony overwhelms another, and uses its resources for its own benefit. 

PLB

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