Winter bees have a markedly extended lifespan compared to their summer
counterparts: a mean lifespan greater than 100 days depending
on date of emergence, with a maximum between 212
and 252 days, while "summer" bees working
through the major nectar flows experience a reduced mean
lifespan of 25–30 days

What factors are associated with the transition from a
summer bee to a winter bee population? Because the annual
appearance of long-lived bees coincides with the onset of
winter in temperate climates, signals external to colonies and
associated with the seasons have been examined as factors
that could induce the appearance of winter bees 

We know little about how this is determined. Differences in larval
care may affect whether a bee is long- or short-lived;

H.R. Mattila, J.L. Harris and G.W. Otis. (2001). Timing of production of winter bees in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

* * *

Amdam, Page, &c, may have nailed it here. They report that underfed larvae are better able to withstand nutritional stress as adults. 

We found evidence of increased starvation resilience in adult bees
that experienced starvation during the fifth larval instar. This group
of worker bees was characterized by reduced body mass and ovary
size, elevated JH titers, increased glycogen in the fat body and a
reduced gustatory response to sugar. Overall, this phenotypic shift
appears to improve the starvation resilience of the individual bees.

Wang, Y., Kaftanoglu, O., Brent, C. S., Page, R. E., & Amdam, G. V. (2016). Starvation stress during larval development facilitates an adaptive response in adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Journal of Experimental Biology, 219(7), 949-959.

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