Rearing of candidate queens by honeybee, Apis mellifera, workers (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is independent of genetic relatedness

Abstract

Polyandry in honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) leads to many subfamilies within a colony. Nepotism is expected to occur under these circumstances since honeybee workers can increase their inclusive fitness by favoring full-sisters over half-sisters. The potential benefits of nepotism to workers may be most apparent in queen rearing in which workers can readily influence the genetic composition of the next generation. To determine whether the kin-selected nepotism hypothesis could explain queen rearing, observations were made on the care behavior exhibited by workers toward queen larvae in 4 colonies, and patrilines were identified using DNA microsatellite markers. We observed 521 worker visitation behaviors directed towards queen larvae during 101 h of observation. Care behaviors were found to occur independently of the genetic relatedness between nurse bees and nursed queen larvae. We therefore suggest that the kin-selected nepotism hypothesis cannot explain queen rearing.