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Altruism

Altruism

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 9, 2026

Preparation of Single-cohort Colonies and Hormone Treatment of Worker Honeybees to Analyze Physiology Associated with Role and/or Endocrine System

Preparation of Single-cohort Colonies and Hormone Treatment of Worker Honeybees to Analyze Physiology Associated with Role and/or Endocrine System

Published on: September 6, 2016

Altruistic behavior by egg-laying worker honeybees.

Nicholas L Naeger¹, Marianne Peso, Naïla Even

¹Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Current Biology : CB

|August 6, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

When a honeybee colony loses its queen, worker bees reproduce, exhibiting both selfish and altruistic behaviors. This plasticity in honeybee social organization challenges kin selection predictions.

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Area of Science:

* Behavioral Ecology
* Social Insects
* Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Biology

Background:

* Kin selection theory predicts reduced altruism in queenless honeybee colonies due to lower relatedness among workers.
* In queenright colonies, a strict age-based division of labor is observed.

Purpose of the Study:

* To investigate the behavior and physiology of queenless, egg-laying honeybee workers.
* To test the hypothesis that altruism is reduced in queenless colonies.

Main Methods:

* Observation and physiological assessment of queenless honeybee workers.
* Comparison of social structure and worker behavior in queenless versus queenright colonies.

Main Results:

* Queenless workers engaged in personal reproduction (producing male offspring) and continued colony tasks like foraging and defense.
* Laying workers exhibited enlarged brood-food and wax glands, indicating investment in both reproduction and colony maintenance.
* Individual specialization was reduced in queenless colonies, with workers acting as generalists.

Conclusions:

* Queenless honeybees display a mix of selfish reproduction and altruistic cooperative behavior.
* The social organization of queenless colonies is characterized by reproductive, behaviorally generalist bees.
* This study reveals significant plasticity in honeybee social organization and challenges simple kin selection predictions.