Honeybees Heat Wax to Build Queen Cells, Shaping 172 Larvae's Development

3 articles · Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Jun 3

Infrared imaging showed a newly identified class of worker honeybees heating their thoraxes to soften wax while building peanut-shaped queen cells, a behavior Kai Wang's team dubbed "royal engineering."
Gene-expression differences in the workers' abdomens suggest these bees are a specialized worker type rather than ordinary builders temporarily doing the job.
Scanning electron microscopy found queen-cell wax is less dense, more pliable and has a higher melting point than wax used for standard worker cells.
In a 172-larva experiment, queens raised in cells made from worker wax were smaller and died more often, indicating the cell itself helps determine queen development alongside royal jelly.
The Nature study, sparked by a two-year-old's question about why queen cells are not hexagonal, challenges the long-held view that diet alone makes a queen.