Scientists have long believed a queen honeybee was made almost entirely by diet: feed an ordinary larva enough royal jelly and a ruler emerges. But new research published in Nature suggests queens are created through a more elaborate process and food is only part of the story.
Researchers found that wax chambers where future queens develop, called queen cells or royal cribs, are not simply protective shelters, but carefully engineered environments essential to producing healthy queens. They also identified a previously unrecognized class of young worker bees dubbed queen cell builders that appear uniquely adapted for the task.
Source: University of California-Riverside, June 3, 2026. Link.
Honeybee colonies are not simply collections of individuals. They function as integrated biological systems capable of engineering their own environments.”
Image: Link.
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