The life phases of the a queen honeybee—and her colony—are complex. There have always been many potential failure points along the way. For example, a queen may become injured or eaten during her mating flight. In the last decade, however, beekeepers have complained of unusual problems with their queen bees, such as queens dying sooner or producing fewer worker bees than they used to. These problems contribute to the high number of honeybee hives that die every year in the U.S.

 

Client: Scientific American