Abstract:

Bumble bees are eusocial bees in which the division of labor in reproduction and in task performance changes during their annual life cycle. The queen monopolizes reproduction in young colonies, but at later stages some workers start to challenge the queen and lay their own unfertilized eggs. The division of colony maintenance and growth tasks relates to worker body size. Reproduction and task performance are regulated by multiple social signals of the queen, the workers, and the brood. Here we review recent studies suggesting that bumble bees use multiple sources of information to establish and maintain division of labor in both reproduction and in task performance. Juvenile hormone is an important neuroendocrine signal involved in the regulation of division of labor in reproduction but not in worker task performance. The reliance on multiple signals facilitate flexibility in face of changes in the social and geophysical environment. Data Availability No data were used for the research described in the article.

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