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Rebel Bees
I was fascinated to read about rebel bees in the journal Current Biology. Scientists from Poland headed by Prof Michal Woyciechowski have discovered that when faced with the prospect of raising their nephews and nieces, worker bees’ rebel. This happens when a colony multiplies by swarming. Swarming is a natural phenomenon in which the queen and part of her colony leave en masse to find a new nest site. According to Prof Michal Woyciechowski "workers are obligated to rear nieces and nephews".
According to kin selection theory, the colony kin structure of eusocial insects motivates workers' altruistic behaviors and therefore their sterility or restricted reproduction
When a daughter replaces her mother as head of the colony, some worker bees reproduce instead of caring for their monarch's offspring. According to the researchers, workers developing from the mother queen's eggs immediately after swarming, in a temporarily queenless colony, had more ovarioles in their ovaries and less-developed hypopharyngeal glands producing brood food.
The researchers say the rebellion however is short lived. Once the new queen's own workers hatched they were able to suppress the reproducing rebels.
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