Hello,
 
Some literature I have read recently suggests that workers, in their queen
selection, will choose those larva most closely related to themselves (ie
larvae that were fathered by drones produced from the home hive as opposed
to those larvae fathered by drones from other hives). This presents two
questions;
 
How do colonies minimize inbreeding depression generated by this kin selection?
 
What is/are the que(s) used by the workers in evaluating the genetic
relatedness among potential queens?
 
Any information on this would be appreciated - are any of you working on
these questions or know a group which is?
 
Cheers, John
---------------------------------------------------------
John P. Volpe
Centre for Environmental Health
Dept. of Biology - University of Victoria
PO Box 3020, Victoria, British Columbia, CANADA  V8W 3N5
TEL. (250) 721 7098
FAX. (250) 472 4075
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"I've always thought that underpopulated countries in
Africa are vastly underpolluted."
-- Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World
Bank, explaining why we should export toxic wastes
to Third World countries.