>
> >In these colonies, the situation is the same as in late summer/autumn: no
> brood => no or little use of vitellogenin => long living bees?


Ghislain, there certainly appear to be regulatory mechanisms by which
colonies not engaged in broodrearing extend the longevity of the workers.
This would have obvious adaptive value for survival.

It would be an interesting experiment to track the survivorship curves of
workers in queenless colonies with heavy brood production due to laying
workers, to those without laying workers.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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