The point I was trying to make is that there are worker behaviors and colony level behaviors. For example, for a colony to swarm there needs to be a consensus. Not every colony will swarm given the same environmental conditions. Further, if regular swarming increases survival of the parent colony then natural selection would favor this behavioral adaptation. Just looking at the grooming habits of the housekeepers overlooks a whole range of collective behavior that we have little understanding of. Further, a trait like excessive swarming is not something beekeepers would want. 

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