The honeybees, insects belonging to the genus Apis, are a eusocial species, that is, they belong to the highest level of organization society of all animals. In the hives, inhabited by swarms, different castes of bees coexist: the queen, the worker bees (females) and the drones (males).
But, How does a bee become a queen? In this article on our site we will solve this and many other doubts about the bee queen, discovering, for example, how to differentiate it from the others and how the fight between the queens takes place. We explain everything, keep reading!
The Birth of the Queen Bee
Before answering this question, it is essential to know the two different situations that can generate the need for a new queen: death of the queen bee (or master bee) or the creation of a new swarm due to lack of space in the current one, which will go in search of a new hive.
We call swarm a group of bees, generally in motion. Sometimes, a large group of bees leaves the colony with a queen to settle in a new hive, forming swarms of up to 20 meters.
Before the event, the hive takes care of raising a new queen, since most bee species would not survive without her. This phenomenon usually appears when the hive becomes too small to house all its individuals, usually in late spring and throughout the summer, when swarm activity reaches its peak. Now that you know the causes of raising a new queen, let's discover how a bee becomes a queen…
Because worker bees don't live long and the survival of a hive depends directly on the queen, when workers suspect they will need a new one soon, they select from 3 to 5 larvae that will be placed in the so-called "royal cells", special large cells.
These larvae will feed only on royal jelly, which means:
- Large size, with a protruding abdomen.
- A longevity notably higher than that of other members of the same hive, between 3 and 5 years, unlike workers, which usually live a maximum of 5 weeks.
- The ability to lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.
- Absence of the suction organ.
- Different shades, reaching a tan color.
In this other article we explain in more detail how bees are born.
The fight of the queen bees
Once the larvae have been selected, the workers will take care of them scrupulously until they hatch. That's when the queen bee fight occurs, which is basically how a bee becomes a queen.
In this fight of queen bees there can only be one: the strongest It is important that the queen that survives is the most powerful, because it is the one that will transmit its genetic material to more than 2,000 larvae daily for 3 or 5 years. Once the fight to the death is over, the queen bee prepares to be fertilized by the fastest males Thanks to this method, the hive will enjoy the birth of bees strong and fast.
How does the queen bee reproduce?
As we have told you in advance, the males chase the female during the "nuptial flight" trying to reproduce with her, however, only the fastest males will manage to fertilize it. Once filled with sperm, the queen bee returns to the hive to rest for a few days, before she begins laying eggs that will help the hive grow.
Where do bees lay their eggs?
The queen, in addition to being the only bee in the colony capable of reproducing and laying eggs, has the control to choosewhether the eggs from it will produce males or females. But how does she do it? To give birth to a female bee, the queen will deposit an egg fertilized by a sperm in a cell and, to give birth to a male, she will only have to deposit an unfertilized egg.
How to identify the queen bee?
But what is the queen bee like? There are some morphological details that can help us know how to recognize a queen bee:
- Of all bees, the queen is usually the largest, except in some species.
- Looking at the body, we can see in the queen a larger abdomen and robust.
- The queen bee's stinger is not serrated, allowing her to sting at will without dying. In contrast, worker bees have a serrated stinger that causes it to remain in the body of its target, inevitably causing its own death.
- The queen bee's limbs, especially the hind limbs, are often remarkably large.
- When it moves through the hive, other bees often let it pass.
Royal jelly and its importance in the queen bee
A group of workers, known as "nurses" are primarily responsible for the larvae. They secrete royal jelly through their glandular cephalic system, located on their head. It is a whitish substance, with pearly reflections, with a gelatinous, warm and acidic texture. All the larvae receive royal jelly in their development stage, but the queen is the only one that receives it completely pure, without water or pollen, throughout her life.
Studies have shown that royal jelly has the ability to modify the DNA of the bees that feed on it[1] and it is for this reason that the queen bee differs from the workers. For all these reasons, it seems important to point out that royal jelly is another factor that explains how a bee becomes a queen, right?
Discover also on our site the importance of bees with this other article. They are essential for the ecosystem!
